


The Things We Do: For Science

by Riplae, Sycophantism



Series: The Things We Do [3]
Category: The Things We Do
Genre: Aliens, Cover Art, Original Fiction, Science Fiction, Space Pirates, Torture, Updated tags:
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-05-14 08:01:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 27,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14765693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riplae/pseuds/Riplae, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sycophantism/pseuds/Sycophantism
Summary: Chessur and Madens quickly affirm a means of travel, locating a cruise ship captain that is willing to smuggle them onboard for a little extra cash. Except Blackburn feels death wreathing this ship like a cloak; the captain is a little too perceptive of Cipher's criminal nature; and it's starting to look like this generous gesture may just have sinister ulterior motives.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> TTWD is a roleplay-turned-story made by myself and @Riplae, following the hijinks of Cipher and Blackburn as they adventure across the universe. There’ll be badass space pirates, creepy mad scientists, and adorable alien friends. What more could you ask for?
> 
> Arc 3 is the first installment that will be released in chapters! The original content wasn't written with separation in mind, so chapter beginnings and ends may be a little abrupt, but we'll do our best to make the transitions smooth! 
> 
> And, as always, make sure to follow our blog on [Tumblr](https://thethingswedorp.tumblr.com/) for extra content such as character bios, Q&A's, and art! We also reblog fanart, and have received several gorgeous pieces from the darling [Rainboopz](http://rainboopz.tumblr.com/). Thank you for sharing your love with us, Rain <3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chessur and Madens quickly affirm a means of travel, locating a cruise ship captain that is willing to smuggle them onboard for a little extra cash. Except Blackburn feels death wreathing this ship like a cloak; the captain is a little too perceptive of Cipher's criminal nature; and it's starting to look like this generous gesture may just have sinister ulterior motives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TTWD is a roleplay-turned-story made by myself and @Riplae, following the hijinks of Cipher and Blackburn as they adventure across the universe. There’ll be badass space pirates, creepy mad scientists, and adorable alien friends. What more could you ask for?
> 
> This time around, Arc 3 is too long to be posting in it's entirety. A whopping 86 pages! Woof. So we'll be posting chapters weekly!
> 
> As always, make sure to follow our blog on [Tumblr](https://thethingswedorp.tumblr.com/) for extra content such as character bios, Q&A's, and art! Recently we've had the wonderful artist [Rainboops](http://rainboops.tumblr.com/) ([Rainboops](http://rainboopz.tumblr.com/) is her art blog handle) do a TON of fanart for us, something that really kicked us into gear to wrap up this 3rd Arc! Definitely check her out!

 

 

Blackburn retreated into the ring often enough on his own, whether for privacy or rest, but this had felt different. This had felt like… retreating. His discontent toward the atmosphere of the ship had Cipher slowing his pace a bit to frown down at the ring.

Cipher glanced around, but saw nothing amiss. Blackburn's reluctance was palpable, and despite Cipher's immediate urge to contradict the pirate, he... noticed what Blackburn was talking about. Now that it had been pointed out, there was something strange; like it was too crowded, uncomfortable, despite the space between himself and the other patrons. "Mm..." He didn't reply, but made a noise of agreement.

Once Chessur led the group to their new room with the help of a small map the captain had gifted her, she unlocked and pushed open the door to reveal a small, scruffy room. The metal-framed bunk beds sat parallel of each other, with thin mattresses and neatly folded blankets atop of flat pillows sitting at each end. A porthole sat opposite of the door, illuminating the concrete floor peppered with cracks and dirt. "Alright, here we are!" she chirped, walking inside and plopping her bag down on a bottom bunk.

The sight of the room recaptured Cipher’s attention; launching himself onto the top bunk, Cipher spun around and sat curled up in the corner, heaving a pleased sigh. "This is the height of luxury," he gushed.

"Uh-huh." Madens wasn't quite as impressed, but granted, he knew what an actual suite looked like. Still, considering their line of work, these were pretty good digs, comparably.

Chessur took her place beside her bag, stretching her legs with a blissful sigh. "It feels so good to sit down..." She collapsed onto her back, bed creaking softly under her weight.

There was the soft clap of clasping hands at the doorway once everyone had chosen their bunk. "I'm so glad to see that you all found your room without any trouble!" came a man's voice soon after, his white, flashy attire prominent against the gritty background of the hull. With glittering badges and such decorations adorning his clothing and hat, one would conclude that said man is undoubtedly captain Dell.

Leaning forward, Cipher peered over the edge of the mattress toward the new arrival, even as Madens straightened and walked to the doorway to meet him. "Thank you for your hospitality," he said, clipped and professional as he extended a gloved hand. Cipher lay on his stomach, arms dangling down toward Chessur.

"Yeah, it's really great of you," he chimed in. "Super generous, we appreciate it."

The captain laughed softly and gave Madens hand a firm shake, waving his other hand to dismiss the comments. "It's no problem, really! It's nice to put this room to use, my whole crew avoid it like the plague. Nevertheless, I apologize for its unkempt state, it's a bit embarrassing..."

Chessur sat up, face meeting Ciphers dangling arms before she pushed them to the side. "They avoid it? Why?" she asked with a raised brow.

"Oh, some rumor about it being haunted, I'm not entirely sure." Dell chuckled, shaking his head.

Cipher frowned, eyes drifting down to his ring as he splayed his fingers out. The ring flickered in response. _Hm._

"Superstitions," Madens commented, entirely noncommittal.

The captain nodded, folding his arms behind his back with a smile. "I've just come to give you a warm welcome and to let you know that if you need anything, there's an intercom outside your room to contact me." He raised a hand to point as he continued, "Bathrooms are down the hall, too."

"So what about your crew, we sharing the floor with anyone?" Chessur kicked her legs.

Dell shook his head. "You have the whole floor to yourselves."

As cool as that sounded in theory, Cipher found it weird that a ship would leave a whole floor completely unoccupied. "How come?" he asked, heedless of manners. Madens shot him a glower, but didn't object; he was curious too.

"What being our smallest floor, and most... apparently _haunted_ floor..." The captain sighed with a roll of his eyes. "My crew mainly use it for their own storage."

"Oh, okay." Chess leaned against her bag.

"Mm." Cipher rolled onto his mattress again, not wanting to tempt Madens' wrath.

Sailors and their superstitions. Even in space.

"Whatever the reason, we appreciate it," Madens assured him.

Dell nodded. "Anyhow, before I depart, I want to remind you all that you're not allowed access to the ship's top levels. If any of my security see you on said levels, you'll be taken under custody." He glanced up at Cipher specifically, wearing a polite smile.

Cipher slunk backward a bit more, bothered at being pinned so quickly by the captain. "You got it!" Chessur pointed finger guns at the captain.

"You got it," Cipher echoed, tone significantly less enthused.

"I'll see to it personally," Madens assured him, and Cipher burrowed under the covers.

"Thank you," the captain hummed before turning on his heel to leave. "I'll leave you to rest now. Good day!" He waved over his shoulder.

Chessur pursed her lips, waiting for Dell’s steps to fade into the distance before she spoke up again. "Daaamn Ciph! You got _called out!_ ”

"I don't like that guy," Cipher whined, and Madens snorted as he went across to his own bed.

"He seems pretty nice to me!" Chessur shrugged, pulling open her bag and digging through it.

"A little too nice, in my opinion," Blackburn argued quietly.

Blinking, Cipher brought his hand around in front of himself, looking down at the ring. "What d'you mean?" he murmured, quietly enough that the others wouldn't hear.

"The ship feels off, the captain feels off... I don't know..." Blackburn couldn't put his claw on it. Something just wasn't right here.

Chessur slowly poked her head over the edge of Ciphers bed, whispering, "... Are you two confessing your love?"

" _WHAT?_ " The ring flared at the same moment Cipher threw the blanket off, their voices echoing together.

Gobsmacked, Cipher recovered faster. "No! This place is freaky!"

"Awa." Chess pouted. She was hoping for some romance up in this _ish_. It'd certainly spice things up, in her world. "I mean, yeah, I guess. The captain said it was haunted, sooo..." She shrugged. "Anyway, you wanna walk to the bathroom with me?" Whatever was going on, she was oblivious to it. Nobody should be surprised.

Sighing, Cipher kicked off the sheets and dropped down. "Yeah, sure. I wanna see the shower." He was looking forward to actually having a chance to wash.

"Awesome! Buddy system!" the girl chirped, bare feet papping against the floor as she ran out the door. "Let's go!"

"I've got the buddy system down pat," Cipher grinned, raising his hand to show off the ring. Blackburn gave a soft 'hmph' in response. "And wouldn't this leave Madens alone?"

"Ciph, earlier we watched Madens push back four grown men by himself. I'm sure he'll be fine!" Chess nodded.

"... True." But it was the principle of the matter, if they were going to play by the buddy system. Cipher glanced around the hall.

Chessur followed Ciphers gaze around at all the steel doors, bolted shut with digital locks. "Geeze, the captain’s really intent on keeping the crew’s storage safe from guests like us..." she murmured, rubbing her neck.

Slowing his pace, Cipher drifted closer and inspected the locks. "These are hardcore," he agreed, analyzing it from different angles. His guides didn't quite know he was a thief in so many words, but they were probably putting the pieces together.

Chessur leaned against the wall to watch Cipher observe. "No kiddin’..."

Blackburn spoke up, materializing beside Cipher, "I'm not buying that they're to keep 'guests' _out_. More like they’re here to keep something behind the door _in_." Cipher craned his head up when Blackburn appeared, and found himself nodding. Yeah, it looked like some pretty intense hardware...

"Then phase through the door and look inside!" Chessur gestured, "Let us know what's up!"

"I've never tried that, actually..." Blackburn rubbed his chin.

"No time like the present," Cipher offered, laying his palm on the door. "That's as close as I can get. Go for it."

As if about to submerge his head in water, Blackburn took in a deep breath and phased through the door. His hands pressed against the cold steel, claws curling atop its shiny surface for a moment before he finally pulled back. "I can't see anything... It's pitch black." Cipher frowned. Even storage rooms tended to have portholes.

"That's... weird..." Chessur frowned, jumping when she felt the shake of the ship's engines warming up to begin departure.

Cipher jolted, glancing at the ceiling, then at the keypad again. "... Okay, one sec." He ran back to the room, fished around in his bag, and grabbed his electronic lockpick. Hiding it behind his back and pretending he didn't see Madens narrowing his eyes at the conspicuous action, Cipher hurried back out.

“Alright," he muttered as he approached, "let's get to the bottom of this."

Blackburn stepped aside to give Cipher clear view of the door’s sturdy lock. "What's that?" Chessur tilted her head, eyes following Cipher as he approached with the device.

"A key," he said, planting himself in front of it and jimmying the front panel off. Plugging in, he worked the handheld for a few minutes, intent, until the light switched to a cheery green and the locks slid away. "Tada," he hummed, tapping a button to have the door slide open.There was a sound, a soft blip to signal the door opening.

Chess' eyes glittered at how flawlessly the device handled the lock, "Oh shit, neat!"

Laying the lockpick atop the panel he stepped in front of the doorway, awaiting the great reveal.

What lie on the other side, once the hall light flooded past the door and into the mysterious room, was…

Nothing. All in all, the room looked like a kind of cell. No windows, small, clean, and... strangely enough: _Empty_.

"Huh?" Chess' head darted from side to side, as if convinced her eyes were fooling her. "There's... nothing in here at all...?"

Cipher arched his brows in surprise. "That's a lot of security for a whole lot of _literal nothing_." He sounded disappointed more than anything.

Chessur pressed her hands to her hips, "Serious..." Sighing and shrugging her shoulders, she turned on her heel. "Oh well-- gAH--!"

Blackburn blinked at the sound of Chessur's yelp, turning to see the captain standing behind them. Cipher whipped around at the same time, knowing already what he'd find.

The captain was looking over Cipher's device in the palm of his hand, clicking his tongue before his cold gaze settled on the two intruders.

It made Cipher’s stomach twist up to be caught, but still he edged forward, putting himself between Chessur and the captain. She glanced up at him as did so, peeking around him to study the captain. "Hey cap," he greeted, grinning wryly. "Got a little adventurous, sorry. I mean, you said we weren't allowed on the upper floors, nothin' about this one..."

Clenching the device in his hand the captain's eyelid twitched, but he smiled past the frigid expression. "Not even an hour has gone by and you're _already_ breaking into rooms, I see."

Blackburn stood firmly at Cipher's side, narrowing his eye at the man glaring them down. Cipher shrugged his shoulders up around his ears, keeping his grin in place. "Thought you might be holding out on us. Mighta hidden some fancy shampoos in here! Gotta keep my hair nice and soft, yknow?"

Dell narrowed his eyes, humming past his curled up lips. Tapping a boot against the floors tiles, he laughed, shaking his head and waving a finger at Cipher. "You're _very_ funny," he hissed through his teeth, clearly clenched as he grinned. "But, I wonder, would you still crack jokes if we threw you out the airlock?"

Chessur hugged Cipher’s waist to protest against such a threat.

Cipher's grin wavered just a bit. He swallowed the lump in his throat. "No one to laugh at 'em out there," he chuckled, pressing back against Chessur just so, just to feel the reassuring weight of her presence.

"Mmn..." The captain arched a brow. "Then I suggest you be more careful, snooping around for your 'fancy shampoos'..." He tucked the device away in his pocket. Cipher almost protested the confiscation of his device, but the captain's next words had Cipher’s jaw snapping shut: "I don't take kindly to thieves. In fact, I hate them, _passionately_." His shoulders rose as he took in a breath to soothe his temper. With that, he attempted to project a friendlier smile, clasping his gloved hands together. "Now, you're not a thief, are you Mr.Cipher?"

Staring at the captain, feeling like the man already knew the answer, he tried for a humbled smile. "No, sir," he said, voice faint.

"I thought so!" Dell gave Cipher’s shoulder a reassuring pat and he stiffened at the touch, making himself stay put. The captain snapped the fingers of his free hand as he said, "To be sure you both stay on your best behavior, I'll make sure your friend Madens knows of the situation!"

Cipher grimaced as Chessur's expression fell. She knew Madens wasn't going to like knowing they possibly messed up another contract...

Clearing his throat, Cipher said, "Uh, we're just gonna go check out the bathroom," as he excused himself and tugged on Chessur's hand.

Chessur whined under her breath as she was pulled along. "We dun fucked up my duuude," she wheezed.

They could feel Dell’s gaze following them down the hall, right up until he finally started towards their room. Cipher yanked Chessur into the bathroom the instant they reached it, clutching his chest as he sagged back against the wall. "That guy is seriously scary," he breathed, heart still hammering. The atmosphere had been more like he was facing down some kind of fucking crime lord than a cruise ship captain.

Chessur fell onto her hands and knees, staring firmly at the bathroom’s worn tiles as she caught her breath. "Between him and Madens, we're not gonna get off this ship alive in the next few days..."

"Few days?" Cipher echoed despairingly. He hadn't known the length of the trip, but that made sense. Cruise ships didn't often make pit stops.

"Oh, no, you _better_ get off this ship alive." Blackburn grumbled, "I don't want to be stuck with _that_ weirdo..."

A quick glance at Blackburn had Cipher making a face. "Your concern is touching," he said dryly.

Blackburn folded his arms and leaned against the wall. "I suggest we stop sticking our noses where they don’t belong. For the sake of... well, our lives."

"I guess so..." Chessur sat on her heels with a sigh. "The whole thing's just weird..."

Cipher made a noise of acknowledgement, but he didn't comment. He wasn't going to stop snooping, no way. Not until he found out what was going on. "Don't worry about it," Cipher assured her, crouching beside the girl and tousling her hair. "C’mon, let's go see if that creep is done tattling to Madens."

Chessur looked up at him and nodded, pushing herself back onto her feet.

Blackburn narrowed his eye, watching the thief. "You're going to stop snooping, _right_ , Cipher?" he growled. No way he wanted to be thrown out the airlock because his host wanted to play detective.

Looking up, Cipher waved a hand. "Yeah, yeah." He couldn't lie to Blackburn forever-- the pirate would be there when he went snooping, after all-- but he could at least get Chessur to stay out of it. "I don't wanna get Captain Crazy on my case."

Blackburn’s shoulders relaxed. "Good,” he said. Once satisfied of Cipher’s intentions, he returned to the ring.

Chessur snickered, folding her hands lazily behind her back as they headed back to their room. "Captain Crazy..."

"Don't repeat that," he warned, despite his own quiet laughter.

* * *

The captain announced his arrival with a few swift taps of his knuckle against their bedrooms set open door. "Knock knock."

Madens glanced up from his work. The last person he wanted to see was dropping by for another visit and he sighed internally, standing. "What can I do for you, captain?" He hated pretending to be cordial. Civility was overrated. But they needed the connections.

"I hate to bother you again, but... I found your client and partner hacking their way into one of my rooms." The captain frowned, tucking his hands away in his pockets. "Do you know anything about that?"

Madens narrowed his eyes irately. "No, I sure don't," he said, sounding like he was speaking through grit teeth.

"I just find it odd, your client used this little contraption I've only seen on thieves." The captain pulled the device from his pocket, for Madens to see. "I wasn't aware you were _escorting_ a thief, Mister Madens."

Madens frowned, crossing over to take and inspect the device. "From what I understand, he's usually a white hat. Someone who breaks into places to find the security flaws as a service to the owners." It was the only other way to explain Cipher's having this. Goddamn that little bastard for making Madens lie to a contact. "I'll remind him that without consent, it's illegal." He met the captain's gaze evenly.

Dell hummed, Madens’ excuse catching him off guard. It was certainly one he hadn’t heard before. "Please do. I'd hate for us to have a problem," the man replied lightly, staring back into Madens goggles with a beaming smile. He kept his hand outstretched. "I'd like to keep that device, too. I'll return it when your trip is over."

"Of course." Madens handed it back, gaze unwavering. "I didn't think they'd manage to get into trouble on their way to the bathroom. I won't be so lenient from now on."

The captain’s hand clenched around it. "Thank you. I'll leave you to your work, then." With that the captain left, back towards the elevator.

Meeting him in the hall, Chessur made sure to give him a wide berth, avoiding eye contact. Cipher crept past, keeping himself between Chessur and the imposing figure of the captain. God he was unsettling.

Madens grabbed Cipher the moment they were in the doorway. He yelped, yanked up off his feet. "Care to explain what the fuck you were doing?" he snarled, nose-to-nose with the thief.

"Uh--"

"Or how about, were you planning on telling us that you're a thief?"

Chessur didn't know how to save Cipher from this, it was only prolonging her own inevitable confrontation with Madens. She stared at the floor, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.

Cipher squirmed, finding that he'd been lifted off his feet a few too many times this last week. "I'm not gonna steal while I'm traveling with you," he finally said, tone objecting.

"And what do you call breaking into locked rooms?"

"That's--"

"I don't care," Madens said, shaking him before turning and tossing him up onto the top dunk. Cipher sprawled back with a disgruntled noise. "If you do one more legally questionable thing, your ass can find its own way to the Hivfschere system."

Chessur tugged at Madens’ shirt. "We were just checking the rooms out, Mads. They're weird! They're like... cells or something," she said, looking out their door and into the eerie hallway. She couldn't shake the feeling of being watched... "Maybe this contract was a bad idea..."

Madens glanced at her, frowning, then back at Cipher. Then, sighing, he returned to his bunk and sat heavily on the bottom bed. "Whatever it is, it's not our problem. We're in and out in three days, and then it's irrelevant. So just _behave_ for _three days_. Can the two of you manage that?" He glared.

Chessur eased onto her bunk, pulling her knees up to her chest with a quiet nod. Cipher wasn't happy about being scolded like a child, but he jerked his chin in a single nod. Madens made a low noise, then turned to his tablet.

Fishing around in her bag, Chessur pulled out her own tablet and popped in her headphones. "Madens." She tossed a USB over to his bed. "The WiFi password is on that! Along with some signed paperwork from the captain, receipts and shit... the usual." She shrugged and brought up Skype now that she had proper internet connection.

Madens nodded his thanks, hooking up. Cipher slumped in his bed with a pout, wracking his brain to try and solve the issue. Burrowing under his sheets, he looked down at his ring, murmuring, "Now that it's on my mind, I can't stop wondering what the hell the captain's issue is."

The ring illuminated the small dark space under Ciphers sheets. "I can think of one thing," Blackburn spoke up, to Cipher and Cipher alone. "A scruffy little thief whose name starts with C..."

"Oh, piss off," Cipher hissed, glaring at the ring. "You're the one who said he was creepy in the first place."

"He's not _just_ creepy now... He's _dangerous_. He threatened to throw you out an airlock, for fuck’s sake! _Normal_ cruise ship captains don't do that. Whatever's going on, stay out of it." Blackburn possessed Cipher's hand for a moment to flick the thief's nose.

Squawking quietly, he wiggled his nose and sniffed. Blackburn released his hand, allowing Cipher to shove it down in annoyance. "Fine," he muttered, rolling onto his side. "But when he comes creeping on us in our sleep, don't say I didn't warn you." He didn't believe it for a second, but he still wanted to snoop…

"I'll be sure to wake you up if I see him stroll in." Blackburn replied.

"You fuckin' better," Cipher muttered, "Otherwise what good are you?" Finally emerging with a deep breath of fresh air, he flopped back with a long, full-body stretch. "Fuck, I need a shower."

"No one's going anywhere unsupervised," Madens said, and Cipher spluttered.

"Excuse me?!"

"You lost that privilege when you couldn't even go take a piss without breaking into something." The guide glared at him.

"I said I'm done, lay off." Cipher slid off the bunk.

"Tough." Madens stood as well, clearly waiting. Chessur snickered quietly as she watched the two bicker. Cipher made a disgruntled noise, wringing the air, before scowling and heading out the door. Madens followed.

"Wait--" Blackburn squawked, "Wait-- Wait-- I've never had a host who took me into the shower with them-- You're going to take the ring off, right?" For once, he actually encouraged said action.

Cipher slowed, glancing down at the ring in disbelief. "What? You've been bitching at me every time I take the thing off. You can't even see me in there, can you?" Madens made a low sound of impatience, and Cipher increased his pace again.

"Listen, I don't want my ring on your hand when you're scrubbing yourself! You take it off or I make your shower hell." Blackburn huffed. Then, quietly, he added, "Please.”

"Hell, fine," Cipher groused, "No need to threaten me, you twat." The _please_ tacked on didn't have quite the desired effect when following what it did, and so Cipher felt no inclination to be polite about it.

"Thank you." Blackburn sighed.

Madens folded his arms as Cipher passed into the bathroom. Then, turning, the thief made a broad gesture. "There, I'm here, nothing for me to victimize in the damn bathroom. Or are you going to stand guard while I soak? " Madens narrowed his eyes, and Cipher grinned. "'Cause I plan on taking a nice, _long_ shower. Downright luxuriating. Who knows how l--"

"Fine," Madens cut in. He pointed at Cipher. "I'm coming back in one hour. If you leave, even for a minute, I'll know." With that he retreated, and Cipher rolled his eyes, slamming the door shut behind himself.

Cipher scouted out the showering area, satisfying himself that it wasn't too skeevy, and began to strip. "Alright, gonna leave you on my shirt, okay?"

"Sounds good to me," Blackburn replied.

With a nod, Cipher slipped the ring off, setting it in the center of his shirt so it was farthest from any edges. "No peeping," he said, wagging a finger, then retreated into the stall and tugged the curtain, twisting the water on. "Oh god, it's hot, I'm in heaven."

* * *

Chessur listened as they retreated. It wasn't hard to pick up on the two talking, what with the entire floor being empty and their bedroom door wide open. Shape-shifting her ears helped too; cat ears were best for eavesdropping.

"You look like an idiot," her girlfriend Vivi laughed through Chessur's headphone.

"Shhhh..." Chessur furrowed her brow.

It wasn't long before Madens returned, giving her an annoyed look-- oh, he knew what you were doing, Chessur-- and sitting on the bed. "Vivi?" he asked, looking back down at his tablet.

Chessur tried to shift her ears back before Madens could spot them, sheepish at being caught. "Yeah," she answered.

"Hiii Madens~" Vivi called out, loud enough to be heard from the headphone. Chessur winced from the volume.

"Hi, Vivi," Madens responded, attention on the tablet.

"He's always glued to that stupid tablet." Vivi sighed, "An amoeba's work is never done, I suppose!"

Chessur smiled and shrugged, looking over. "You wanna call your bro sometime later, Mads?"

Madens' hands paused, hovering for a moment before shaking his head. "Maybe tomorrow."

"...Why you always puttin' it off?" Chessur frowned, leaning her head against the metal frame of her bed.

"I don't like talking to him when I'm not at ease," Madens said plainly. "And this may come as a surprise to you, since I haven't been going around and sticking my nose into locked doors, but even I can feel that something's off here."

Chessur gestured wildly. "I knew it, there was no way you couldn't feel it too!"

Madens rolled his eyes. "I'm not an idiot," he huffed, setting his tablet aside. "I just try to have a little more _tact_."

Speaking of tact...

Cipher, sadly, did not have much. Shower wrapped up far earlier than he'd implied, he peeked around the corner of the curtain, then crept over to his clothes and toweled off quickly, tugging his clothes on. Pocketing the ring, hoping Blackburn wasn't paying attention but prepared for the contingency that he was, Cipher made his way to the stall and quickly climbed up, agile as a cat. Balancing, he reached up to the ceiling, nudging the tile aside and peering into the inner workings. "Hmm."

Once the dust settled from the shifted piece, Cipher saw there wasn't nearly any room for a person to fit above the bathrooms ceiling tiles. A thick foam, specifically designed for soundproofing, sat above the cluster of pipes and wires stretched across in every direction.

Of all the things Cipher had thought he might find creeping around in the ceiling, he hadn't expected... this. With a start, he leaned back, staring at the material. "What the hell," he muttered, touching it gingerly before flattening a hand against it. "Is this..." He recognized it, but the implications were eluding him.

"What are you doing?"

* * *

The bedroom door slammed shut, seemingly by itself, causing the two occupants to jump.

Tensing, Madens looked sharply toward the door. After a short pause he stood, tablet abandoned, and crossed the room, grabbing the door to try and open it. Despite his strength, it didn’t budge.

Chessur peeked over her blanket’s coils. "... Wh...Is there... a breeze down here?" she thought aloud, glancing down at her tablet screen to notice her call disconnected due to the wifi being cut. "What's going on...?"

Madens frowned, hand slowly clenching over the handle. He didn't like this. Not one bit.

“Chessur," he said, glancing over then looking down at her dropped call. "..."

Chessur's eyes flickered across the screen before she looked up at Madens. "... What are we gonna do...?"

Crouching, Madens probed the seams of the door. He barely needed a sliver of space to squeeze through, amorphous as his form was. "We're going to pay the captain a little visit," he said grimly.

Chessur blinked as Madens managed to slip through, vanishing through to the other side. "You can squeeze through, but I can't... Think you can unlock the door from that side?"

"I'll see." Frowning, Madens surveyed the door, looking for a way to get Chessur out. It was locked up tight tight. Even the card reader Chessur used earlier to unlock it was turned off. No, the door had to be opened from the source that closed it in the first place, and who knew where that was?

Chessur blinked as a fog began to engulf the room, flooding in from small filtered vents settled underneath their beds. "U-uh-- Mads-- A way out would be greaaat right now!" She scrambled up from bed to yank at the door knob. “Fuckfuckfuck--!" She pulled her shirt up to cover her mouth and nose.

"What? What's going on?" Madens demanded through the door. "Chessur!"

Condensing himself once more, he snaked back into the room, only to recoil at the touch of the gas. "Oh--" It permeated his body, wisps of smoke in the gel that made him stumble.

Chess struggled to keep herself upright as she slumped against the door, "Shiiit...F-fuck..." It wasn't long before the gas seeped in through her shirt and knocked her out cold, her legs giving out underneath her.

"Chess--" Madens' voice was more of a wheeze, the gas hitting him faster despite his later entrance. His entire body was discoloured by the fog, and his eyes dulled. Body slipping out of shape, he crumpled to the ground beside her.


	2. Chapter 2

 

"What are you doing?" Captain Dell’s voice echoed through the bathroom. "Put that tile back and get down from there."  
  
Cipher jerked, throwing his arms out to catch himself against the ledge of the hole he'd made in the ceiling. Fuck, how had he not heard the captain come in?! "Yeah," he said hastily, returning the tile to its place and glancing over his shoulder. "S-- sorry."  
  
"I don't think I've ever met a passenger nosier than you," Dell growled, fists clenched at his sides. With a glance over his shoulder, Cipher soon saw that the man was now dressed in some kind of rubber suit.  
  
Once again startled, Cipher swayed in place, maintaining his precarious balance on the stall as he took in the captain's strange garb. That was... distinctly not normal. The ring in his pocket quivered. "Think I'm just gonna stay in the room for the rest of the trip," he offered, eyes flicking up so he could readjust his grip and turn around to face the man, still not coming down quite yet. No, he didn't want to be down there with the captain.  
  
Dell slid the bathroom door shut and locked it, smiling up at the thief perched up on the stall. Cipher tensed instantly. "I'm afraid it's a little too late for that now," he purred, gesturing to the floor as he drew closer. "Why don't you come down from there?"  
  
Shying back, he stared at the captain with new wariness. "No, I'm pretty good up here..."  
  
The captain scowled, pulling some kind of device from the inside of his rubber jacket. "Fine. I'll _make_ you come down."  
  
Cipher spared a hand to shove it into his pocket, fumbling with the ring and yanking it out. "Help help help," he muttered, trying to keep his balance and slip on the ring at the same time.  
  
Blackburn took over Cipher's hand just in time to yank it up and shield against the prongs of the captain’s stun gun. "Fuck!" Recoiling at the sight of the prongs, Cipher shuddered out a breath of relief at the sight of Blackburn's hand over his own.  
  
"The hell..?" The captain blinked at the odd hand that materialized around Cipher's own. Ohh... _That_ must have something to do with the cause of the glow underneath the thief's sheets from earlier.  
  
"What's your problem?!" Cipher snapped down at the captain, emboldened by the presence of his ghost.  
  
Dell reeled the prongs back into his gun, taking a moment to readjust the thing before tucking it away. The reflexes of the glowing hand were quick and invulnerable to the gun’s stun, he didn't want to risk Cipher yanking it from his grasp to use it against him. No, he was going to have to go about this the old-fashioned way. "You." It was put simply, and reminded Cipher that Blackburn had said the exact same thing earlier. Dell prepared a needle whilst keeping a keen eye on the thief, and the sight of it had a violent, icy jolt racing up Cipher's spine.  
  
"We need to find a way out and back to the others," Blackburn spoke up. "Can you see an exit?"  
  
Growing increasingly unsteady, the thief swallowed thickly and latched onto Blackburn's voice as soon as he heard it. Inhaling through his nose, exhaling, he darted his eyes around. Besides the door that the captain had sealed, nothing stood out. "No," he said lowly, gaze twitching back to the captain time and again. "The ceiling's blocked too."  
  
Blackburn sighed. "Then we'll need to get past him... Somehow."  
  
The captain didn't seem to be in any rush, taking his sweet time with his fancy syringe, closely studying it and its contents. Which made his swift dash to reach Cipher at the top of the stall all the more sudden.  
  
Tense all the while, somehow Cipher was still surprised when the man lunged, and he threw himself backwards-- right off his perch. With a yelp he dropped to the ground, needle grazing his leg as he barely managed to orient himself into a rough crouch, then topple back onto his ass.  
  
“God dammit--" Dell cursed, boots meeting the bathroom tiles with a surprisingly soft thump. Scrambling to his feet, Cipher took a deep breath, taking a step _away_ from the stall that temporarily separated him from the captain.  
  
“Quick, run around him, to the door!" Blackburn urged, "I'll hold him off!"  
  
It was a sensible plan… but he didn't want to run blindly past; his heart pounded at the thought of moving toward Dell in any way. If Cipher had more faith in the ghost, he may have listened.  
  
Instead, he darted away from the captain, hoping to buy more time for himself.  
  
" _CIPHER--_ " Blackburn snapped, pinching the space between his eyes with a heavy sigh as the thief scrambled away.  
  
In a lunge forward, the captain had slammed into an invisible wall that was-- well, Blackburn. He stumbled backward, grasping at whatever unseen force had stopped him. "Eh...?" It only took him a moment to phase through the barrier, and he whipped around the corner to catch up with Cipher.  
  
Trust didn't come easily to Cipher. _Especially_ not when that trust was the only thing keeping a needle filled with some questionable substance away from his skin. Despite this, there was a strange guilt at having ignored Blackburn.  
  
Skidding to a stop at the wall, he shoved a hand into his pocket, searching desperately for anything he could use. The knife he withdrew was tiny, made for concealment more than violence, but it would do in a pinch for self-defense. He spun to face the captain, back to the wall. "Have you considered _not_ being a psycho lunatic?" he questioned, fist clenching around the handle of his weapon.  
  
"What a _concept!_ " The captain grinned, glancing towards the thief's weapon as he spun his needle between his fingers. "Though, if I wasn't, I wouldn't have the pleasure of chasing around scrawny little criminals like _you_." Slowly, he began to close in on Cipher.  
  
In a panic, Blackburn floated up and kicked in the bathrooms ceiling tiles. Crushed, they crumbled atop of the captain's head and he was temporarily blinded by the debris.  
  
Sucking in a low breath, Cipher took the chance to race past the captain, ducking as he ran for the door. "Now what?" he gasped, only stopping when he caught himself against the door, searching it for a way to open.  
  
"Use your knife to open the latch on the door, the blade's thin enough to do the trick." Blackburn tried to keep his voice calm as he returned to Cipher's side, deciding now wasn’t the best time to berate him for his earlier idiocy.  
  
The thief stole a desperate look at Blackburn, not wanting to admit how shaken he was. Taking a shuddering breath, he dug the knife into the latch, jiggling it.  
  
The captain coughed and shook his head of dust, wiping his eyes as best he could with the rubber gloves on his hands. "Is that _ring_ what keeps causing these inconveniences!?" he shouted, pushing off the wall to bolt towards the thief.  
  
The captain's shout made Cipher flinch, pushed him to work faster.  
  
Blackburn could already tell how troubled Cipher was, despite the absence of words. No, he couldn't just tell, the pirate could _feel_ Cipher’s panic, his fear. Retaining his composure was hard because of this, and it only made Blackburn all the more angry. Using it to his advantage, Ciphers ghost grabbed the nearing captain by the throat and lifted him from the floor with a snarl. Gasping for air, the captain desperately tried to stab at the invisible force, kicking his legs wildly.  
  
The latch clicked and the door popped open.

Fumbling with the knife, Cipher shot a look over his shoulder as he bolted out the door, knowing Blackburn wouldn't be far behind.  
  
Man, when Madens found out…  
  
But the door was sealed shut, no matter how he tapped or fiddled or yanked.  
  
“Chessur! Madens!!"  
  
Blackburn appeared at his side, phasing his head through the sealed door. "...They're out cold, and there's a gas lingering inside." He pulled out to look at the thief. "I don't think it'd be safe to open it even if we could."  
  
Despaired at the news, he kicked the door, fists clenched. Fuck.  
  
The captain’s footsteps were advancing down the hall, each one loud and clear. Cipher whipped around at the captain's voice, pressing back against the door. "Where do you think you're going to run?" he laughed, voice strained from Blackburns strangling. He rubbed his neck, bruising already beginning to surface on the man's skin. "The only way up is the elevator, and you don't even have the code."  
  
The man seemed to have thought a lot of this through; the _ceiling_ was insulated.  
  
"What do I do?" Cipher murmured, at a loss. Then, inspiration flickering, he looked at Blackburn sharply. "Possess me." Right. "Like before. When you saved me, c'mon--"  
  
"Cut your hand, I'll need your blood to do that." Blackburn gestured to Ciphers small knife.  
  
"I've been doing this a long time, Mr.Cipher," Dell went on as he got closer. "You're not going to find a way out.” And closer. “You're more likely to _die_ down here than escape." And closer.  
  
Listening to both was difficult, despite his attempts to tune out the captain. Then, that word-- no, no, he was not going to die. Cipher pressed the blade into his palm, pulling it across to slice a cut through the skin. It hurt more than action flicks made it seem, and he dropped the knife with a hiss of pain, before shaking his hand to let the blood drip to the ring.  
  
As soon as blood made contact, the band flared to life, same as it did the first time Blackburn was summoned those few days ago.  
  
The captain stumbled back, bringing his hand up to shield his eyes from the harsh light the ring emitted. Dell’s fading words were, "What are you--?" before Cipher was consumed entirely in darkness. This time, the thief had no control. He was pushed to the back of his head, into a blank mindscape where he couldn't feel let alone hear anything outside his body. Cipher sank into it with panic, feeling breathless and caged. "What's happening?" He couldn't feel like he could last time. "Blackburn!" The only response was silence. "Blackburn!" His panic spiked.  
  
It was only a moment later when Blackburn popped into the mindscape beside Cipher. He looked-- surprised. Baffled, really.  
  
Cipher grabbed him, heart pounding. He'd thought he'd-- unmoored, for a second. "What the _fuck?_ " he snarled, voice wavering. "What was that?! You-- you-- you ditched me!"  
  
"What-- No! I didn't _ditch_ you!" Blackburn felt them float backwards, and he grasped at Cipher for balance. "We're both out cold now... That slimy bastard. I only managed to break his leg before he hit us with a tranquilizer made for a damn horse."  
  
The mindscape was like a state of lucid dreaming, so Blackburns presence felt... authentic. Solid. Cipher clung onto him, not caring about-- anything, really. Blackburn was on his side and Cipher needed someone to hold onto right now. The pirate, on the other hand, didn't know how to feel about the sensation, squirming in Ciphers embrace.  
  
"He-- What? We're..." Asleep. Or rather, unconscious. "Oh, fuck. Oh fuck, I'm dead. I'm fucking dead."  
  
"Shut up, you're not dead. I'm still there, protecting you."  
  
Immediately Cipher snapped, "Fat lot of good--" before stopping. "Wait, you mean like-- the shield, it's still around my body?" Noticing the squirming, he shied back, running both hands through his hair. "Sorry," he breathed-- for the accusation, the clinging, the aborted insult. He wasn't doing so hot.  
  
Blackburn sighed, folding his arms once he was given the space. "It's fine..." he murmured, looking into the blank horizon. "If he tries anything, I'll know. For now, we have to think of a way to get out of this..."  
  
Mimicking Blackburn's posture, though looking more like he was hugging himself, Cipher curled up a bit in the open space. "Find my _teka_ and rip his damn throat out."  
  
"We can't do that. We need the code to the elevator, and possibly Madens’ and Chessur's cells..." Blackburn crossed his ankles, leaning back against nothing in particular.  
  
Hissing, Cipher folded his arms over his head and curled into a ball. He hated this. "Wish I was actually unconscious," he whispered, voice rough. He didn't want to deal with the stress of wondering what was happening to his sleeping body.  
  
Blackburn watched Cipher spin gradually through the white space, reaching out his hand after sometime to pull the drifting thief back into his orbit. Cipher didn't move from his fetal position, though he did tip toward the pirate's touch.  
  
"Cipher..." The pirate sighed as he struggled to find comforting words. "You're going to be okay. I wouldn't dare let anything happen to you."  
  
After a long silence he unfurled just a bit, hugging his arms to himself. "Mm..." He was... moderately reassured.  
  
Blackburn tugged Cipher into his side, tipping back his hat to look up where a ceiling should be in this vast stretch of white. Cipher glanced up at the pirate, understanding now why the other had edged away before; it was strange to be held by Blackburn. But still-- he didn't want to feel alone right then. "Time moves faster here than it does out there.” Blackburn was fairly certain, anyway. The headspace he shared with his hosts never abided by normal temporal rules, anyway. “We'll be awake before you know it..."  
  
"That's good." It was also very bad. He wasn't looking forward to seeing what kind of situation he was going to wake up in.  
  
"This asshole is something else... Torturing him for the codes might work..." Blackburn rocked his foot as he thought.  
  
Cipher shuddered. "Kindly black me out when you do," he muttered.  
  
"Oh, you're no fun." Blackburn chuckled. "Though, he'll probably be pissed about his leg... I hope he doesn't do anything to our escorts while we're out." The two lapsed into silence, thoughts drifting to their companions.

* * *

The chill of the floor had Madens tensing, then easing himself back into shape. He pushed himself slowly to his knees, inspecting his surroundings. Thick, steel walls, all vacant save for one that housed a window looking in on the adjacent cell.  
  
The captain was crouched down, looming over Chessur who laid seemingly lifeless against the concrete that made up the floor.  
  
Wobbly or not, Madens threw himself against the window, slamming a fist against the glass hard enough to shake it-- though just barely. That didn't stop the captain from jumping at the heavy sound. "Get away from her," he snarled, form rippling with rage.  
  
Dell looked over his shoulder, tugging at a lever on some device with wheels coddling his broken and casted leg. It rose with him as he stood upright, clicking into place as the captain wheeled over and tapped on Maden's window. "You're an... interesting specimen," he replied, tone cool as his eyes flickered across the amoeba's features.  
  
It took Madens to that point to realize his state of undress. Though it made sense; he'd lost his form when he fell unconscious. It didn't matter. "Then come in here and gimme a proper look," he dared, eyes narrowed to slits. There was no hint of that put-upon civility anymore. He was mad. He was _furious_. He wanted to rip the captain apart.  
  
Dell smiled. "As much as I'd love to poke and prod at you on a face-to-face basis, you've proven to be quite... slippery. I wouldn't want to risk my well-being more than I already have."  
  
"Coward." As much as goading might work on Madens, it probably wouldn't work on the captain. Not that that would keep the amoeba from trying.  
  
Leaning against his rolling crutch, the captain looked towards Chessur. Ironically, his next words turned Maden’s tactic against him: "Perhaps I could use your friend to my advantage?"  
  
As soon as the man looked away, looked at Chessur, _mentioned_ her, Madens was slamming a fist against the glass again, picturing Dell’s head. "Don't you touch her," he barked, pressing his hand against the glass, wishing it would bend.  
  
"Oh my, you two are close, aren't you?" The captain hummed, nudging Chessur with his foot, grinning up at Madens.  
  
The sound of the growl was echoed visibly by the rippling of his body, both hands now forced against the glass. "I'll kill you," he swore, the animosity of his voice ill-contained.  
  
"Now now, let's not go throwing out death threats so soon. I've hardly done anything either of you yet." Dell waved his hand, rolling himself out the door as Chessur began to stir, groggy, confused, sluggish. She flinched when her cell door slammed shut. "Huh...?"  
  
Madens' anger barely dissipated, but he took a deep breath to try and calm himself. "Chess," he said, going for soothing but barely managing it. "Hey, wake up. Come on."  
  
Chessur rubbed her eyes as they adjusted to the harsh fluorescent lights glaring down on her. "Mads...?" she murmured.  
  
"Hey kid." Leaning against the window frame, he sighed. "How's your head?"  
  
"Fuckin’ hurts..." She whined, brushing back her bangs. "How the hell did we get ourselves into this shit..."  
  
"Don't know. Don't care. When we're out of it, that bastard's in for a _world_ of hurt." Madens' voice edged into a growl, eye narrowing.  
  
"Have you seen Cipher at all?" Chessur folded her arms across her knees, surveying the inside of her cell with tired eyes and a furrowed brow.  
  
Frowning, Madens glanced about his room for another window. Finding none, he said, "No," and looked toward her again. "He was in the bathroom..."  
  
Chessur's mouth drew into a thin line. "...You... don't think this guy... _killed_ him... Do you...?" She looked up at Madens.  
  
Madens honestly didn't know. The captain rubbed him the wrong way, and he knew exactly why; the word choice, _interesting specimen_ , was far too reminiscent of the scientists he'd dealt with in the past. Chessur was a similar creature, rare and engaging. Cipher was... human. Boring. Not of any use to someone with a scientific goal in mind. The ring might be of interest, but Cipher…  
  
"No," Madens said, not wanting to upset her. "Probably not." He was a good liar. Even to her. "Let's find a way out of this."  
  
"I don't know about you but I don't see _any_ way out of this..." Chessur sighed, face slumping against her arms.  
  
"You're a shapeshifter and I'm a literal fucking slime," Madens said, tone scolding. "Don't be so fatalistic, brat. Get up and work the problem."  
  
Chessur clutched her legs to her chest. She felt nauseous, sore, and frankly... violated. It didn't put her in the most optimistic mood. "Gimme a minute, okay? I don't feel too hot..."  
  
Softening immediately, Madens held himself back for a few moments, reminding himself that she was all but civilian. He took a breath before trying again. "C'mere," he said, tapping the glass lightly. "We'll be fine, kid."  
  
Chessur sniffled, curling her toes inside her shoes. "Yeah... We better. I got a bone to pick with this asshole..."  
  
"I've got a few bones to _pick_ right outta his damn meat suit," Madens muttered. Then, forcing himself to focus on her, he studied Chessur's face. "You alright now?"  
  
Chessur wiped her eyes, shifting to pick herself up and off of the floor. "Yeah. I'm okay."  
  
"Good to hear." Knocking on the window, he nodded toward her. "Take a look around the room, see what you can see. I'll do the same."  
  
Chessur nodded, giving her cell another inspection. "Okay... So..." She ran her hands along the walls, knocking on them. "Solid walls... ceilings, floors... The doors are sealed, air right... But we need to breathe, so there has to be an opening somewhere, right?"  
  
Madens wondered if the captain knew that amoebas didn't technically need air. Rather than say that aloud, he agreed, "Must be," as he followed along the walls of his own room, inspecting for seams.  
  
There were small, tinted domes in the corners of their cells. "Cameras," Chessur deduced, sticking her tongue out at the thing. Making a face at his own camera, Madens raised himself to ceiling height and slathered his goo on its surface, blinding the captain. "Bastard," he huffed, knowing it was ineffective but wanting to annoy the prick.  
  
"And-- oh! Vents." She squinted her eyes at a mouse-sized grated vent in the opposite corner. Madens glanced over, then searched his own for the same outfitting. There it was, a vent to match Chessur's on the ceiling of Madens own cell. "You have one too, right?" Chessur stood up on her tiptoes to observe the grate further. "Looks like you could fit!"  
  
Damn right he could fit. "Let's see," he muttered, sliding easily through the holes.  
  
"Hell yeah!" Chessur pressed her face against the window, watching Madens stream himself into the vent above. "Bet the asshole didn't prepare for that!"  
  
Madens snorted at Chessur's enthusiasm, working his way through the ventilation. It was easy, and he was honestly annoyed at how familiar this tactic was. Oh well. As long as it worked.  
  
It didn’t work for very long. They’d underestimated how prepared the captain really was: Branching vents closed around Madens as he slithered through the pipes. Madens tensed at the sight of it, then hastened his progress in an attempt to get through one of them.  
  
Moving further and further down the shaft, he felt the panels around him growing colder. The response was immediate; Madens slowed, though not from caution alone. A new sluggishness lended itself to his movements, though he pressed on stubbornly.  
  
With all branching vents sealed, Madens eventually filtered into another room-- one colder than even the vents. It could be passed as a freezer if it weren't completely empty. With a curse he slid to the ground, form rippling slightly with his shivering as he hurriedly assessed it for a new way out. Fuck, he couldn't stay here for long, he'd be useless.  
  
The new room seemed only to be another cell, something seared in the corner. A-- Madens squinted, edging closer. An alien? They were frozen, stuck in a fetal position. Madens approached, wary in case it was alive, intent on deducing its state of deadness before beating a hasty retreat.  
  
There was a soft crack of the alien struggling to shift underneath the layer of ice encasing its form. "Oh, what the hell," Madens hissed, hurrying over and grabbing the alien to help them straighten up. The icy chill of contact had him cringing, but he persevered. "Oi, you alive?" As Madens tried to pull them up, the alien managed to slowly shake their head, and went still, looking them over. Their legs refused to budge from their icy state, and forcing them to do anything else would shatter both completely. Soft lights trickled past the blanket of ice coating the poor creature’s face, looking to be their eyes as they gazed up at Madens.  
  
"Shit." Madens lowered himself instead, leaving his hand hovering instead of touching, hating the bite of the cold from the ice. Staring into the lights, he was silent, unsure. "What do you need?" he finally asked. He'd been in enough dire situations to know to offer. Sometimes people just needed... out.  
  
The alien looked up at the vent Madens came from, pushing the cold air into its cell.  
  
Madens followed the alien's gaze, frowning. "The vents closed when I was going through," he said, looking down at them again. "I don't know why it's still so damnably cold in here.The air in the other room was fine..." His words were coming slower. Movements stiffer. Fuck, he was going to lose some of his viscosity if he stayed here much longer. "I can't stay," he said, quiet.  
  
The alien blinked at Madens, nuzzling their head back into their knees without a word. Madens tried not to feel as bad as he did. He really was going soft. After a long moment he stood straight, slowly. "We'll come for you." Edging backward, he reached up for the vent once more, relieved to be leaving the cold.  
  
Meanwhile, Chessur was calling into the vents for her missing companion. "Madens?" She cupped her mouth, "MAAADEENNSS!"  
  
"Quiet down, I'm here," Madens groused, slithering to the ground and hugging himself to try and insulate the warmth. "Ugh. He closed the vents on me or something, it only leads to another room." Not a pleasant one, either.  
  
"Another room? Was there anything in there?" Chessur ran over to their window.  
  
As much as Madens didn't want her to worry, lying would only complicate things... but if they had to rush later, there was no way she'd leave someone behind. Not even a stranger. "No," he responded, focusing on getting his body to shudder harder, using friction to warm himself up. "Nothing but cold."  
  
"Dammit..." Chessur pressed her cheek against the glass with a heavy sigh, "Here I thought we found a way out... This guy's no fucking joke..."  
  
Madens huffed out a breath as he leaned against the glass, wishing for a hug right about now, just to get warm. He wracked his brain for ideas, getting frustrated. Silence fell over them, and Chessur took the passing moment to draw shapes in the floor with the tip of her shoe. "Hey... You okay?" She finally spoke up, tapping against the glass.  
  
Glancing in at her, he shrugged. "Just cold," he said, looking around the room slowly. "And pissed as hell. When that bastard comes in, I'm gonna wring his skinny neck."  
  
"He probably won't come in unless he gives us another lungful of knockout gas..." Chess poked out her bottom lip, forming a claw to scratch drawings in the glass between them.  
  
Madens swore. Of course Chessur was right. And, unlike her, he couldn't just... hold his breath. His body absorbed it. "Shit," he muttered. Then, because he's not as much of an idiot as some people would expect of the short-tempered brute of the duo, he looked at Chessur with inspiration. "Chess," he said, slowly, eyes brightening. “I have an idea.”

* * *

A soft blip emitting from the captain’s computer caught his attention.  
  
“Ventilation error?" he read aloud to himself, setting aside the electric saw he was using in attempt to break through Ciphers 'shield.'  
  
Blackburn, feeling Ciphers body slowly come to, vanished from the headspace and focused back on their outward body. Immediately he shifted against the bonds that strapped them to the nearby wall, wincing to find them made of silver.  
  
Dell was stooped over his computers, tapping a few keys. "Your friend is a pain in my ass," he grumbled, hearing the rattle of the metal.  
  
Being left alone so suddenly made Cipher startle, reaching to see if he could feel his body. _’What's happening..?’_  
  
It was then Cipher was pulled from the safety of his mind and thrown back into his body. But this time around, the thief was given the gift of sight through one eye. Blackburn flexed his fingers and pulled against the restraints once more.  
  
Cipher sucked in a sharp breath of air when he fell back into consciousness, dizzy and shaking his head-- or, doing so in their shared mindscape. Feeling the restraints, he envisioned them reflexively in his mind. _’Are--’_ Clearing his throat, he asked Blackburn, _’Let me see them.’_ If there was a keyhole on their bonds, he would be able to pick them.  
  
Blackburn obliged, eye focusing on the bands around his waist, wrists, and ankles. No keyhole could be seen, being the bands were a part of a larger mechanism behind the wall. _’These things are probably linked to his damn computer…’_ The pirate settled his gaze on the monster that was the captain's computer. It held several camera monitors, a few keyboards, and other miscellaneous controls and bulbs to alert him of open doors or clogged vents.  
  
Cipher swore to himself, slumping back. The total lack of mobility made him useless; even the lockpicks cunningly sewn into the hem of his sleeves would do him no good. _’Can you break them?’_ he asked, trying not to sound too pathetically hopeful. "Or do some spooky ghost shit to surge his computer?"  
  
_’No, they're made of silver.’_ Blackburn yanked at the restrains, scowling. _’They're siphoning my energy, and my _spooky ghost shit_ is restricted in this form...’_  
  
Dell made himself comfortable in a chair nearby, to watch with a smile as Cipher and Blackburn tried to figure out some kind of escape.  
  
_’Who the fuck makes creepy wall restraints out of silver?’_ Cipher muttered, wincing at Blackburn's yanking but not asking for control back. No, he didn't think he wanted it right now. Especially not when he noticed the captain staring at them. He shuddered. _’He's watching,’_ he mumbled, quiet despite only speaking in their mindscape.  
  
Blackburn looked up, Cipher's question being his first to say aloud. "Why do you even _have_ these?’ The pirate tugged at his leg.  
  
"I've picked up a few specimen in the past that were actually allergic to silver." Dell leaned back, smug. "Who knew they'd come in handy? I was about to throw them away. But don't let me interrupt you, go on, keep trying." He gestured.  
  
Blackburn's eye twitched. "Cocky bastard," he snarled.  
  
Cipher frowned at the captain's encouragement, then again at Blackburn rising to the provocation. As much as he didn't want to, he nudged at the pirate's mind.  
  
_’Give me control,’_ he said. Insofar as diplomacy went, Cipher suspected that he had at least a minor edge on Blackburn. When it came time to physically intimidate their way into something, it would be all on the pirate. _’Let me talk to him.’_  
  
Blackburn grunted, Cipher’s request not sitting well with him. "Given up already?" Dell all but pouted.  
  
Cipher nudged at him again, insistent but not annoyed. _’Come on. He's right, you're not making any progress. Lemme see what I can do.’_ He grinned. _’As long as you're guarding me, I can say what I want, yeah? So maybe I can get him to trip up.’_  
  
_’Your head will be vulnerable.’_ Blackburn replied silently to Cipher's prodding. _’To at least talk to him you'll need to take off the 'helmet'... I don't know if he has a knife up his sleeve, what if he throws it at you?’_  
  
Cipher winced at the thought.  
  
The captain raised a brow, entirely unaware of the telepathic conversation going on in front of him. After several more beats, Dell growing bored, he perked up as the ghost finally stirred.  
  
"Cipher wants to talk," Blackburn spoke up.  
  
"And what does the thief have to say?" Dell hummed.  
  
_’That it'd be a right shame for him to make a mistake that'd bring big-name people snooping around his little operation here,’_ Cipher said, managing a grin as he waited as Blackburn relayed the message.  
  
The captain folded his hands in his lap. "Oh?"  
  
Cipher took a deep breath, then spoke slowly while Blackburn repeated after him: _’I'm putting the shield partially down. But if you kill me, the ghost takes over and you never get around the shield again.’_ A big bluff, but he could feel Blackburn’s annoyance at being used as a messenger boy.  
  
The captain bounced his good leg, considering the thief's statement before waving a hand. "Alright."  
  
Blackburn narrowed his eye at the man before taking a deep breath and letting down his form enough to reveal Cipher's head.  
  
The thief tensed, ready for an attack, but when none came he kept his expression schooled into composure. Whistling quietly, he made a show of looking at the computer setup. "Quite a circus you've got set up here. Been doing this long?"  
  
"Exceedingly." The captains smile fell, into a more solemn appearance.  
  
"It shows!" Cipher continued, idly swaying back and forth, as much as the binds would allow. "All the prep and pomp, seriously, you should be paid for this." He lifted a finger. "But here's the thing. I bet you're pretty dependent on transients, right? Those poor shmucks you can give a deal on a cheap room, nobody's gonna miss them, yeah? Well, nobody important. And nobody's gonna know they paid under-the-table to travel in the hull of a high-end cruise, 'cause what captain in their right mind is gonna make a deal like that when he's already making, what, a couple million credits a year already?" Cipher arched his brows imploringly. “Pretty smart setup y'got, really."  
  
Dell sat quietly, listening, watching. The mechanism holding up his broken leg creaking faintly as he shifted in his seat.  
  
Cipher laughed. "Flattery's gettin' me nowhere, huh? That's fine, that's fine. 'Cause here's the thing, I'm building up to something, bet you guessed. Here's where you messed up this time, cap; scraggly little thief that I am, someone's gonna care when I don't show up. Someone important." It was true. He was good at working with partial truths. "Like, someone crazy big-name and rich important. Spooky haunted armor ring here is made of metal from a destroyed planet. Super rare, super desirable for niche collectors. See where I'm going with this?"  
  
The captain inclined his head, lip curling as Cipher went on. "Yes," he muttered.  
  
"Good, that's good. 'Cause the whole thinly-veiled threat thing gets less cool when the person you're threatening is an idiot and can't keep up with the subtext." Cipher waved his fingers dismissively. "Here's how I picture it going down. I don't check in at my next destination, and the buyer gets antsy. Lemme tell you, cap, he quoted a _big_ number, so I'd be a moron to just skip out on the deal. I mean, I'm a petty thief; what's a rare metal to me except the next paycheck? So he's not gonna think that I'm hightailing with it. What does he do next? Prolly checks the ship that I told him I was traveling on. And before you object, yeah, I told him what ship I was going on, 'cause 1) I wanted to boast a bit, and 2) I like to have contingency plans in case something goes awry." Cipher paused. "Mind you, I can't say I expected something like _this_ specifically to happen, but hey, apparently paranoia wins for the day." He shrugged. "And when he finds out no one saw me on the ship-- reasonable, since I said we got a cheap deal-- maybe he gets suspicious of the powers-that-be. Maybe he sends someone to investigate this fancy-shmancy cruise, someone pretty qualified in the art of finding _secrets_. Want me to go on, cap? It's the final chapter that's the real fun, but somehow I think you've read ahead and spoiled the ending."  
  
Nodding, the captain leaned back, stroking his chin thoughtfully, eyes drifting elsewhere as he began to consider his options.  
  
Cipher hummed agreeably as he left the captain to his thoughts, lifting his face to study the binds, nonchalant as you please. It was far too laid-back a posture for someone literally hanging in the wall of a serial murderer's lair, but that was going to help sell his case.  
  
Dell studied Cipher's ghostly armor. Surely it couldn't last forever... could it? The suit could withstand an _electric saw_ , after all. The fucking thing broke his leg, too... No. There's no way something so powerful could last longer than... what, a day? Cipher's escorts had booked their room for a few nights, so the collector shouldn't expect Ciphers check-in until the trip was over. Yes, that should give the captain plenty of time to test his theory. Cipher shifted idly in his confines, watching the captain from his peripheral vision. The intense scrutiny he was currently undergoing was making Cipher's skin crawl, and seeming disinterested was getting harder.  
  
Stirring from his thoughts, Dell tapped his foot. "So, little thief, what do you suppose I do?"  
  
At the invitation to speak, Cipher was able to perk up, back in his element. "Let us go, obviously," he scoffed. "What do we care about your weird little fetish operation here? Not like any of us haven't broken the law. I'll even give you the name of a system that's got a bounty on my head, just so we're even. So you don't think we're gonna turn you in the first chance we get. Pretty fair, yeah?" Not a bad deal, if Cipher did say so himself.  
  
Tempting offer, it was, Dell had to admit. He glanced towards his computer monitors, Madens and Chessur's cell audio faint against the stirring of the machines working to run everything. He raised a brow, pressing his fingertips together in a steeple as he turned his attention back to his captive. "Or... I _could_ wait out the time on that armor of yours... Cut your hand off and deliver the ring myself..." The captain pursed his lips.  
  
Cipher was feeling rather confident. Until the captain spoke, and all that carefully-manicured confidence cracked. Just a bit. His heart stuttered, and he had a new worry in his mind; _was_ there a time limit to the armor? He couldn't show that doubt, that fear.  
  
_’Blackburn?’_ He couldn't ask aloud, didn't want the captain to see that Cipher didn't know. Couldn't hesitate. Even as he waited for an answer from the pirate, Cipher shrugged as well as he could in his pinned position. "That's an option," he agreed, careful to keep his words, his voice, his breathing steady and even. "But here's the thing: If anything goes wrong-- literally anything-- then you just threw out your one bargaining chip. 'Cause this deal's what's got a time limit, cap." Eyes cold, lifting his chin, the thief stared down at the man. "We'll kill you, simple as that.”  
  
It had taken a few moments, but Blackburn finally relented. _‘Unfortunately, he's... right. I have no idea how long this'll last... And the longer you allow me to have control the more likely you'll lose your body and soul to my ring…’_  
  
Dell met Cipher's cold gaze, responding like any serial murder would; with a nice, friendly™ smile. "And what will you do then, with no code to my elevator? If you managed to get it open, you _could_ climb up the shaft. But what then? Covered in my blood, stuck on my ship, surrounded by my guards, my friends. Do you really think they'll take your word over my death?" The captain laughed, pushing himself up from his chair. "My Quartermaster knows your faces, your names, she’d turn you to the authorities in a heartbeat.”  
  
The crack spiderwebbed out, Cipher's meticulously constructed courage beginning to crumble. Blackburn's admission already has his chest tightening, and the captain's now had a lump forming in his throat. "This whole setup is suspicious," he tried, a new tremor coming to his frame. He tensed to keep himself from showing it. "They'll see that something's off. Or we'll just hide 'till port and run. Not like we aren't used to that." His argument was fraying. The entire atmosphere had changed; he was on the defensive now, rather than cornering the captain. He didn't like it. He knew he was terrible at this when he the tables turned.  
  
Dell whistled a tune, wheeling over to scoop up the electric saw his hands were itching to get back to. "Hide? From _my_ crew? A crew fitted to handle and patrol a ship carrying more than a thousand passengers? I think not." He stared into the blades reflection, up at the thief whose confidence was sinking faster than any modern Titanic. "Sure, you might convince the authorities to look down here, and they might find my things, but you'll still be stuck under their custody. Do you think your _big-name people_ will have the patience to wait for you?"  
  
The ring was rare, rare enough that he might get bail. _But it doesn't matter_ , his mind screamed, eyes wide as he stared at the saw in the captain's hand.  
  
He'd lost.  
  
"Black," he managed to whisper, the single syllable all he could force out. But even as Blackburn raised the shield again, he could only wonder now how long would it protect him from that blade?  
  
The pirate drew the thief in again, protective. "Prick," he hissed at the captain.  
  
Dell laughed. "Glad to have you back, Ghosty. You talk less." He revved the saw to life.


	3. Chapter 3

"Shift yourself a new pair of lungs. Ones that can hold air in for, say... twenty minutes." Madens was grinning, eye shining with scheming delight.  
  
Chessur blinked. "OH!" She hopped in place, a noise of excitement escaping her throat. "Madens you're a genius!!" she chirped, beaming from ear to ear.  
  
Madens grinned, entirely too full of himself, ego inflating all the more with her praise. "Damn right I am."  
  
"Okay okay okay-- But wait-- How are we going to get his attention?" Chessur looked up at the dome in the corner of her room.  
  
Madens made a face, trying to think. Inspiration came, unsurprisingly, from combat experience. "Okay, listen carefully," he said, leaning into the glass. "There's this gross thing on Sigcau'n, called a--" He frowned. "I forget its real name. We called them Phlebos. Basically they had this thick layer of fake blood under their skin that, when they got hurt, would just... hemorrhage out. It was gross as fuck. Great deterrent for the clean-freak predators, though. Anyway. Shift yourself one of those, give yourself some cuts, just make a real mess of the place. No way he can ignore that."  
  
Chessur blinked. "Oh! Okay... Okay! I can do that..." She plopped onto the floor, folding her legs with a deep breath to steady her nerves. "I can do this!"  
  
"'Believe in you," Madens assured her, watching intently. "Don't forget the lungs," he added.  
  
Chess nodded, clamping her eyes shut with another deep, soothing breath. "Okay..." She trailed off.  
  
Madens fell silent, glancing from her camera to his own-- still gooped. Hah.  
  
Once given the time to concentrate on her shifting, Chessur was quick to push up her sleeve and bite into her arm, flinching when a steady stream of blood shot up from the puncture in the freshly developed sac. She recoiled, spitting out the mouthful of crimson while groaning and wiping her tongue against her shirt. "Gross, fuck, ew!"  
  
Grimacing even as he grinned, Madens watched as her blood gushed. "Yeah, Phlebos. From phlebotomy. Pretty appropriate." Stealing one last glance at her camera, he forced his expression into one of consternation, hammering a fist on the window. "Make a show of it," he said, voice low, for her ears only. Then, because who knew how much she'd over-act with that as her only directions, he added, "Not too much of a show."  
  
Chess shot Madens a glare before throwing herself into her own pool of blood, lying there briefly before she figured the most appropriate response to bleeding out is to convulse. Yeah, that'll do.  
  
It didn’t take long before they knew the captain had seen. Madens twitched back at the sight of the gas as it began to stream out of the vent in her room. "He's coming," he said, looking at Chessur again. "Get yourself some nice claws, kid. Wait 'till he's nice and close. You've got this."  
  
Chessur frowned, laying there, holding in her breath. As sensible as Madens’ suggestion was, she... wasn't up to killing a guy, despite what he's done. She'd… have to improvise.  
  
Chessur was pedaling her legs in the air as she waited, quickly dropping them once her door opened. Madens bristled at the sight of the captain entering Chessur's room, growling to himself. Letting her tongue hang from her mouth, Chessur quickly aimed to capture the essence of being unconscious.  


* * *

Cipher withdrew to the farthest point of consciousness he could manage, curling up once more. He didn't want to see the saw, hear its engine, know it was coming. Know that the shield wouldn't always be there to keep it from his skin. His heart was palpitating terribly, and he curled both arms over his head, returning to his earlier fetal position. Trying to compose himself. Trying to stop the panic.  
  
Lights flashing at the computer had Dell switching off the saw even before he’d reached the wall again. “What?” He set the tool aside and rushed over, deaf to Blackburn’s relieved sigh.  
  
The captain jumped as he saw the convulsive event playing out on his monitor, scrambling to type in the code to trigger the knockout gas. That was far too much blood to take any risks; he couldn’t chance losing a specimen! He nearly tumbled over making a sharp turn, then dashed out of his control room.  
  
Blackburn was surprised to see the man so panicked, so quick to race away. _’Cipher... Let's keep looking for a way out of this. Stop sulking in the back of your head.’_  
  
_’Not sulking,’_ Cipher breathed, curling tighter. _’Panicking.’_ It felt like his chest was caught in a vice, heart tight and too big and beating irregularly. Panting, eyes squeezed shut, he willed the fear away, the anxiety, the-- attack. "Black--" The word was a whine, a plea, he wanted it to stop so he could focus and work the problem but he couldn't.  
  
_’Cipher-- Listen to me,’_ Blackburn began, doing his best to shake off the impact of Cipher's panic attack bleeding into his own nerves. _’I'm going to give you back control. The bastard has our restraints fitted to **my** size, not yours. You'll slip right through them, okay?’_  
  
Yes, that made sense. It didn't immediately dispel the episode, but Cipher still nodded, knowing that every second was vital. _’Do it,’_ he said, swallowing down the fear and forcing himself forward, ready to take back his body. He'll slip right through. Then the world would be his oyster. He bristled at the possibility. He'll take over the computer, lock himself in the control room, _make_ the captain cooperate. Bastard.  
  
And just like that, the armor was gone. Blackburn's spirit stumbled away and collapsed, shattering into pieces that withdrew into the thief's ring. The pirate thought he couldn't dream, but he was wrong; good ol' Reuby will be sleeping for a _while_ after this debacle.  
  
Cipher was quick to grab the wrist cuffs that had held him aloft, pointing his toes down and pulling his feet free. "Idiot," he muttered, because he was mad, as he swung lightly and dropped down to the ground. The first thing he did was grab the saw, resisting the urge to smash it against the ground. Hefting it in his hand, he moved to the computer terminal, looking up and assessing what he now had at his disposal. "Let's see," he murmured, beginning to type, searching for a way to close the door to the room he was in.  
  
It seemed simple enough; it accepted basic console commands, and the monitors were already displaying the camera feeds and command history. Dell crossed from one monitor to another, scooting with his crutch in a way that would be comical if Cipher’s lungs hadn’t constricted in fear at the mere sight of him.  
  
Scanning the different feeds, Cipher startled at the sight of blood on one screen-- on _Chessur’s_ screen, he realized with a jolt-- though squinted when she stuck her tongue out. That... looked fake as hell. The blood didn't, but--  
  
Staring when the captain entered the room, Cipher let a little grin twitch onto his features. A hasty search brought up the cells, and it took a simple command to slam the door to Chessur's room shut. " _Fuck_ you," he growled to himself, glaring at the captain on the screen. Quickly closing the door behind himself as well, Cipher hummed as he scoured the system for more contingencies.

* * *

The captain caught onto Chessur's act quicker than either of them had anticipated, sneering-- and stepping back toward the door.

Unfortunately for Dell, his leg couldn't keep up with his commands. He whipped around only to have the door slam in his face and he yelped, "No!"  
  
Chessur sat up and shook the blood from her hair like a wet dog, a piece of imagery that Madens worried he’d never get out of his mind. The girl crowed, "Gotcha, asshole!"  
  
_Like you had any clue that was going to happen,_ Cipher mused to himself as he turned the audio up in her cell. He searched for a microphone setting, wondering if he could speak to the room. It'd be nice to gloat a bit.  
  
The captain spun around again and pressed himself against the shut door, hand searching frantically for any kind of handle or maybe a hidden panel he had forgotten.  
  
Madens snorted, propping himself against the glass, tension dissipating marginally. "Grab him, Chess," he said, gaze pinned on the captain. Oh, they were going to have a time with this.  
  
"You got it!" she chirped, curling her fists up in the captain's rubber suit and lifting him above her head.  
  
The captain flailed, grasping desperately at Chessur's arms as the contraption strapped to his cast clattered against the floor. He made a mental note of her strength-- No-- Mental notes were the _last_ thing he needed right now. "W-Wait--!"  
  
With a pop and a hiss, Cipher's laughter came over the speakers. "You're a terrible actor, Chess," he chided, grinning at the screen. "Hey, cap, remember that deal we were just talking about?" Anxiety still squirmed in his gut, mingling with vindictive satisfaction. "Time just ran out." And, because his heart was still pounding from the panic attack, he added, "Fuck you."  
  
The captain went pale and wheezed past his nervous grin at the sound of Cipher’s voice, the only expression his face could muster in his shocked and mortified state. No, _no_ , he was so _prepared_ , he had been doing this for _years_. How could he have been so _stupid?_  
  
Madens stared at the camera on the other side with surprise, then snapped, "Cipher?!"  
  
Blinking, Cipher searched for Madens on the monitors, to no avail. Until he noticed the smeared-looking camera feed, and snorted, punching the button to open Madens' room. The amoeba looked over sharply, making his way out. "Let's have a little chat with our good captain," Madens growled, and Cipher was all too happy to open Chessur's door and let the pissed-off alien in.  
  
If it weren't for his gloves, Dell surely would have torn up Chessur's arms in his fit of panic. "N-No...Nononono..." He whimpered, watching Madens slither inside.  
  
Chessur felt kind of bad while she held the captain above her, chipper mood ebbing away as the man's squirming and whimpering pressed on.  
  
"Oh, yeah." Madens' voice was a low, dangerous rumble, arms extending to take the captain from Chessur's grip, snaking around his body like rope before tightening into a vice.  
  
"As much as I hate to say it," Cipher said over the speaker, "Don't kill him."  
  
"Excuse me?" Madens snarled, looking ready to crush the captain in his grip.  
  
"Not yet, anyway," Cipher corrected. "We've got some negotiating to do. Starting with the elevator codes that'll get us out of this nightmare bunker from hell."  
  
The captain swallowed hard, glancing up at the camera then down at Madens’ arms. The codes, right. The codes were keeping him alive. Thank the cosmos.  
  
Chessur slumped against the wall, wringing the blood from her clothes as Madens growled. He narrowed his eyes to slits as he stared at the captain. They could figure something out, he told himself as he tightened his grip just so. They didn't _really_ need this guy. God, he wanted to tear him apart.  
  
The captain's eyes went hazy, body falling limp in Madens’ clutches. He had to think, and fast. This was bad, very bad.  
  
Taking a breath, forcing himself to refocus, Madens looked at Chessur. "You good?" he asked.  
  
Chessur shrugged, flashing Madens a tired smile. "Yeppers."  
  
"Holy shit, there's other people alive down here," Cipher said, and Madens jolted. Fuck. Right. "I'm opening their doors," he added, the sound of typing coming over the intercom. "Be right back." The speaker popped, white noise vanishing into silence.  
  
Cipher switched to a different intercom, going over the speaker belonging to the frozen room. "Hey, buddy, everything's gonna be alright now. You alive? We've got the controls so-- uh, we'll come get you. Just gotta tie up the loon that-- well. Hang in there."  
  
The frozen creature’s arm snapped away from their legs, pointing up to the vents, glowing bulbs that passed as their eyes staring up at the camera.  
  
Cipher blinked, following the directionality of the stranger's pointing. "Something in the vents?" he wondered aloud, glancing at the alien again.  
  
A frigid fog drifted through the grated vent. The alien pointed more persistently. "Need... h-heat." Their voice... or, what would pass as a voice, echoed through Cipher's speakers.  
  
Oh shit. Cipher hastily punched in the command, cranking the heat up. "There you go pal," he said, voice soothing. "Sorry. I'll get someone to you asap, alright."  
  
"T-Thank...s..." The alien sighed, relieved when the ice began to melt away.

Madens spared an arm to help Chessur stand. One arm was more than enough to wind around the captain and keep him in place. "Let's go," he said, urging her through the door. Chessur took Madens arm gladly, pulling herself onto her feet and wiping off her jeans. Then, giving Dell a shake, Madens turned an unforgiving glare on him. "Cipher. Now."  
  
Indifferent, the captain didn't budge, didn't even make a sound. He knew he had some time, there was no use wasting it on pleas for his life and crocodile tears.  
  
Madens shook the captain again, then swung him around and slammed him against the wall. The impact shook Dell from his thoughts, which only earned Madens a pained glare. "You deaf, bastard? He said no killing you. Nothing about how many pieces you gotta be in." Chessur edged away.  
  
After a continued silence, Madens narrowed his eyes and yanked the captain closer. "Wonder what this is all about," he said, free arm snaking down between leg and cast, winding thin and dextrous around the broken limb. "Looks like someone gave you a hard time before me." The appendage squeezed, grinding the broken bones together.  
  
Writhing in agony, the captains glare was swiftly replaced with hot tears. They trickled down the man's cheeks, past his strained grin, his consciousness visibly slipping.  
  
Chessur nudged Madens’ arm around her, uncomfortable by the whole ordeal. "C'mon dude, save it for when I'm not in the room..."  
  
Easing up, Madens glanced down at her. Exhaling slowly, he released the broken limb.  
  
"You guys coming or what? Take a left," Cipher reappeared over the intercom.  
  
"Yeah yeah, we're on our way!" Chessur huffed, tucking her hands in her back pockets.  
  
The captain hung his head with a sigh of relief.  
  
"Don't get too comfy," Madens growled, following Chessur. Cipher's directions had them at the control room before long, though it took a rally of courage for the thief to open the door. Turning, he eyed Dell, then pointedly hooked a foot around the saw's cord and unplugged it.  
  
The captain smiled weakly up at Cipher. "Slipped right through my restraints, I see... How could I have overlooked that..." He shook his head with a defeated laugh.  
  
Chess leaned against the doorway.  
  
"I mean, yeah. Bein' a scrawny little thief and all." Cipher offered a mock salute.  
  
Madens wasn't quite so patient. "Chess." He looked down at her. "You should go."  
  
Cipher jolted. "Oh, fuck. There's a guy in a room." He turned, pulling up the camera feed on the screen. "I told him I'd send someone, Chess, can you--?"  
  
Chess was hesitant. "Uh... Yeah." She gave Dell one last glance before pushing off the door frame and heading down the hall.  
  
The captain swallowed hard, looking between Cipher and Madens.  
  
Cipher looked after Chessur, before turning to the console to guide her to the room.  
  
Madens wasted no time in hurling the captain across the room, stalking toward him with tendrils whipping where arms normally resided.  
  
The wind was knocked from Dell’s lungs upon impact. Crumbling to the floor, the man gasped and wheezed, shaking when he tried to lift himself onto his feet.  
  
"Oh, no, I think you're just fine down there," Madens growled, slamming an arm against his chest to pin him to the ground. "You creepy bastard. What do you get out of this?"  
  
Pressed so firmly to the floor the captain struggled to breathe. "R...R-Research..." he rasped, eye straining to look past his ruffled hair and up at the amoeba pinning him down.  
  
From the rage that suddenly flashed across Madens' minimal expression, it wasn't an answer he liked. Grip tightening, he didn't hesitate to hurl the captain across the room again, leaving him to crash into one of the desks. Rolling across the surface, Dell spilled the neatly stacked books and notes onto the floor, soon following them as he toppled off the tabletop with a heavy thud. "How's this for some fucking _research_ ," he snarled-- and stopped when Cipher stuck an arm into his field of view.  
  
"Don't kill him," Cipher reminded the alien, looking torn.  
  
"I _won't_." Knocking the thief's hand away, Madens lashed out to seize Dell again, dragging him across the floor. Dell scrambled to grab anything that might hold him in place, everything remaining barely out of his reach.  
  
Cipher leaned back against the console, out of his element but feeling that same cruel vindication at seeing the captain suffering. It occurred to him that Madens didn't even rightly know what information they needed out of the man. Must just be angry.  
  
And he wasn't wrong; Madens just wanted revenge. For being captured, but also for all of the aliens that the captain had hurt before. In the name of _research_ , his mind snarling at the word. "Let's do some research of our own," he muttered, grasping the captain's head with one wide hand. "Question: Do monsters feel pain? Hypothesis: No.” It was a stilted attempt at mockery, echoing what he’d seen written on papers in the past. Raising a hand and forming it into long, flexing tendrils, Madens leaned over the man. “We’ll test it by doing what would reasonably cause pain in any other meat bag."  
  
Cipher’s eyes widened, and he quickly looked away from the gruesome sight unfolding, stomach turning over.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Content Warning:** This chapter contains some torture and graphic violence, so please be advised of that. Specifically, if you're uncomfortable with: blood, broken bones, (mild) emetophobia/kind-of waterboarding, or eye trauma, then read with caution!

The pressure of a goop thumb digging into the captain's eye had him trying ever so helplessly to twist away, slime slithering insistently into the socket. Clutching wildly, he screamed bloody murder, tears gushing from his other eye and his voice dwindling to sobs and unintelligible cursing.  
  
Madens hummed as he worked, taking a delicate grip on the eyeball before popping it out of the socket. "Would ya look at that, maybe they do feel pain. Or else they're great pretenders."  
  
"Mads," Cipher said after a moment, clearing his throat. Madens glanced up. Leaving the eye to dangle against the captain's cheek, he grabbed Dell’s head and twisted him around to face Cipher.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
Cipher glanced over, mildly nauseated. "Give me the elevator codes," he said, staring at the captain. "Then we can start negotiating."  
  
Dell’s hands dropped into his lap, trembling as he took in a shuddering breath. "What’s that...? I-I..." He hissed, "...can't hear you over the pain of my _fucking eye dangling from its socket._ " Locking eyes with Cipher, a pathetic chuckle worked its way up the captains throat.  
  
Cipher shuddered, looking away. Even now, just the sight of the captain made anxiety worm in his chest.  
  
"Whiner," Madens scowled, plucking up the eye. "Fine. I'll put it back. Let's see if you feel more cooperative with a little _perspective_." The eye popped back into the socket-- backwards, the nerves still exposed on the outside, pinned by the eyeball facing into the skull.  
  
The captain whimpered. "T-That's... not right," he managed to stammer, feeble hands clasping into the folds of his rubber jacket, face pale under all the pain.  
  
"No? Huh. See, I'm not human, so I'm not the best at your weird anatomy," Madens said, coldly dispassionate as he twisted the eyeball in the socket. "Good thing I've got you to _research_." He spat the word like it was a curse, hooking a finger into the nerve and using it to pry the eye back out.  
  
"I dunno what's got him so pissed off, but seriously, dude, just give us the elevator code." Cipher forced himself to glance over, and felt his stomach churn at the sight.  
  
"Nah," Madens hissed, wrenching the captain's head back. "I rather he not."  
  
Leaving the eye dangling, Madens pressed his slime into the eye socket, rooting around carelessly, eventually reaching behind the other eye and giving it a nudge.  
  
Voice strained, the captain groaned and frantically tried to push Madens away, breath hitching at the sickly sensation. "Y-You can-- AhH-- k-kiss... the code goodbye if your f-friend doesn't _stop_." He hissed through clenched teeth, fighting flustered breaths. "I-I have... A suggestion..."  
  
Cipher forced himself to cross over, putting a hand on Madens' arm. The amoeba growled, not appreciating the silent order, and Cipher put his hands up placatingly. "Gimme a break," he pleaded, meeting Madens' glare with a deferential gaze of his own. Finally, grunting, Madens yanked the slime out of the captain's head. Exhaling through his nose with relief, Cipher looked down at the captain next, disturbed by the displaced eye but forcing himself not to flinch. "Well, let's hear it, then."  
  
The captain’s hand found its way up to his eye, fingers shivering when he grasped it gently and tried to pop it back in. "Even if I give you the codes... you'll be arrested upon entry to the upper f-floors..." His voice cracked as he winced, taking a deep breath to steady his tone he blinked to realign his eye and glare up at Cipher. "If you keep me alive... I could assign you all first class tickets. But _now_ I don't know if I'm feeling too generous."  
  
All true. Ignoring the final point, Cipher glanced at Madens, who looked irate at the fact that he likely wouldn't get to work the captain over any more. Still, the amoeba wasn't a mercenary anymore; he had to think about the logistics of the situation. So he made a gruff noise, giving Cipher a nod without looking back at him.  
  
"Generous or not, it's either those tickets, or I leave you alone with Mads." Cipher looked down at the captain again. "You give us what we want, and he'll let you go, easy as pie. 'Course," he added, walking back to the computer, "I'll be sending myself some files from here. Y'know. Just in case you try anything later." The sound of his typing filled the room as they waited for the captain's response.  
  
The captain watched Cipher's hands dance across the keyboard. "Computer!" he called out, with the last of what was left of his voice, " _Erase data!_ " He'll have to reinstall all his software later-- assuming, of course, that he'll still be alive after this. And just like that, a neon blue branched across all the monitors. Code ran down them and they flickered off, along with every other light the machine was running.  
  
"Mads--!" Despite Cipher anticipating correctly, his reaction was slow. He slammed the send button, colour and code pouring down the screen in the same instant. Did it send? There was no way to know without checking his email. His heart lodged in his throat.  
  
Madens, meanwhile, took the opportunity to jam slime into Dell’s mouth, forcing his jaw wide and pouring a deluge of goo into his windpipe and nasal cavity. Just for punishment.  
  
"Fuck," Cipher hissed, clenching both fists on the console. He had to compose himself. Pretend he got the files. He took a deep breath, straightened, and turned-- only to gag at the sight. "Mads!"  
  
The amoeba shot him a glare, voice warbling like a growl before yanking the slime back out. "I'm getting _really_ sick of you barking out orders," he snapped, pointing at Cipher.  
  
Fresh tears trickled off the captain’s jawline, a twinge of regret in his eye as he hunched over and coughed, hacking up whatever might remain of Madens form when he retracted it. "T-Those tickets just keep slipping... f-farther and father from y-your reach..."  
  
"Does it look like I care?" Madens growled, lifting the captain off the ground, off his feet.  
  
"Madens--"  
  
Madens’ head whipped around, snarling, "Shut up." Cipher recoiled, falling silent.  
  
The amoeba turned his glare back onto the captain. "You think you're still in control? Here's how it's going to work. I'm going to keep stripping pieces off of you, until you convince me to stop." He seized the Dell’s hand, extending the arm to its limit, before winding tendrils around each finger. Bit by bit, he pulled the index back, not giving enough time for the man to speak before it snapped out of its socket. "Better start talking," he said, tone low and cruel.  
  
The captain yelped, thrashing his legs and slamming his free hand against Madens’ outstretched arm. "Y-You think-- a man who's already had his-- leg broken, and his fucking _eye_ popped out of i-it's socket-- t--twice-- will give in to _this_ petty torture?" A laugh erupted from the flailing man, past his tears and whimpers. "You're a _fool!_ "  
  
Madens' body language shifted, and Cipher was backing away before he was even aware of it. Fuck.  
  
"Alright," Madens murmured, voice stunningly calm all at once. "No more kid gloves."  
  
"I'm leaving," Cipher said, sounding queasy as he gave them a wide berth. "Madens..."  
  
"Close the door," he said, not looking up. Cipher retreated, glancing at the captain before doing as he was told.  
  
Madens didn't hesitate to gouge his fingers into the captain's eye socket once more, yanking it out and, with brisk efficiency, severing the nerves that attached it. "One," he said, tossing it over his shoulder to bounce into the corner.  
  
Blood gushed from the fresh wound and down the captain's face, the pain eventually immobilizing his previously struggling limbs. The room echoed back on itself with each sound, the only noise until Dell could compose himself.  
  
Crimson painting his lips, they parted to rasp, "W-With my computer erased... each i-injury you inflict will convince the authorities that you and your friends a-are nothing but... sick, twisted criminals. A shame... to know you're ruining... little Ch-Chessur's future for the sake of r-revenge..." Gurgling and gagging on the blood seeping into his mouth, still he managed to twist his lips into a smile.  
  
"You talk too much," Madens said, flooding the captain's mouth once more. Crouching, dragging the man closer by his neck, he stared into the captain's eyes. "Listen to me. Listen carefully. I will pull you apart, piece by piece, for the next three days. I will never let you sleep. There will be no weaseling out of this. I will not listen to reason. The only way you will leave this place without any other parts missing--" With this, he brought attention back to the captain's bound hand, snapping the broken finger farther backwards, blood gushing from where the bone was now jutting from the flesh. "Is by guaranteeing our safety and freedom at the end of this cruise." The finger was twisted, slowly, until he tore it off altogether, expression impassive throughout. He dropped it to the ground. "Nod if you understand."  
  
The captains single swollen, red eye, wet with warm tears gazed right back at Madens, and eventually, once he heard the wet smack of his now detached finger plopping into the blood pooling underneath him, he managed a nod.  
  
Maden's punishment was rough, but the captain was getting his way, for the most part. It cost him an eye, a finger, and quite literally a leg, but he'll live.  
  
Madens nodded in return, pressing gel into the open wound where a finger once sat, uncaring of how painful it would be. He was stopping the bleeding; it was a gesture of mercy, though a cold one. "You will give us the passes. You will play along with our presence here. And you will keep _this_ ," he gestured around them, "And what happened here, a secret. Nod, captain."  
  
Dell managed a final nod, _secret_ , yes, that's all he wanted. That's all he wanted... He closed his eye, almost looking relaxed, despite the painful burn Madens gel inflicted.  
  
"If you betray us, I will kill you." The slime in the captain's mouth, rather than withdraw, suddenly drove deeper, past his throat and esophagus, ignoring the spasms and retches, before it split off from the rest of his body and sank heavily to the man's stomach. "I will kill you from the inside out," he said, voice low and dangerous as the captain's mouth was freed.  
  
The captain furrowed his brow, limbs too weak to fight against Madens’ actions. "And... w-what... will happen to me when you've departed..." he asked softly, gagging at the taste left in his mouth.  
  
Madens dropped the man when he spoke, deciding the words were inoffensive enough. "None of our business."  
  
Dell’s body hit the floor like a ragdoll, and at that point he was out cold, resting with the comfort of knowing he'll wake up. ...Sometime.  
  
Madens made a low noise of disgust, hating that he had to depend on this bastard for anything.

* * *

Cipher had paced down the hall, though not too far, keeping an ear out in case the captain managed to pull some sort of trick against the amoeba. Eventually he peeked into the room, got a glare from Madens, ascertained that the captain was alive, then skedaddled. When he found the freezer room abandoned, he went hunting for Chessur, finally locating her-- and the stranger.  
  
The two were back in the trio’s old room, sitting on her bed with her new alien companion. "So, you're like... sentient... maaaatter... that can take on different states... or something?"  
  
The alien seemed to laugh, shaking their head. "Sure." They didn't want to try explaining it to the girl again.  
  
"Hey," Cipher said as he stepped in, surprised. "You're looking better. What's up, Mr. Icicle?"  
  
The alien turned their familiar eyes to the thief. "Funny," they replied, pulling a leg up to their chest. Unfrozen, the being looked like a mannequin made of glass and filled to the brim with a piece of space, their eyes being the brightest stars out of the ones that peppered their form.  
  
"Cipher, hey! How uh... How'd things go...?" Chessur smiled hopefully at her client.  
  
They were... honestly gorgeous. Cipher stared for a while, stricken, before fumbling his attention back to Chessur. "What-- uh, Mads..." Stopping, running a hand through his hair, Cipher huffed. "Mads is fuckin' scary," he said. "I dunno what happened but the captain's... kind of a mess. He's out now, but Madens didn't look worried? I dunno if they made a deal or something." He shrugged helplessly. "Just glared at me 'till I left. Prolly better if you talk to him."  
  
Chess nodded, hopping off the bedside and rushing past Cipher. "I'll give you an update when I get back!"  
  
Cipher nodded. The pair watched Chessur leave, before turning their attention back to to each other. "...Thank you."  
  
Rubbing the back of his neck, Cipher grinned. "Don't mention it." Taking a seat by the other, he settled back against the wall. "How you doing now?"  
  
"Better. But, can't remember much..." The alien trailed off. "Happy to be free. With friendly faces." Their eyes lit up, the glow warm and welcoming.  
  
Cipher's heart fluttered at the sight of it, and he beamed in return. "Well, that you are. Name's Cipher," he said, offering a hand.  
  
The aliens eyes flickered down to focus on Ciphers odd gesture, reaching out to touch one of his fingers. "Hello, Cipher. I'm Sim."  
  
"Nice t'meet you, Sim." Cipher watched the other's reaction to his proffered hand, amused as he turned his palm over for the alien to inspect.  
  
And inspect they did, tracing the lines in Ciphers palm with their slim, pointed fingers. "Nice to meet you too, Cipher."  
  
It was almost ticklish, and Cipher bit his lower lip to keep from giggling. "Where you from, Sim?" he asked, conversational.  
  
Sim made a series of unusual sounds in response to Ciphers question. "I... don't know how to say." Their eyes dimmed, sad almost. "Sorry." They stretched their hand across the others to compare.  
  
Blinking in surprise, Cipher glanced down at their hand, then turned his own over to touch their palms together.  
  
Sim flinched as their hands met. Cipher’s palm was... squishier than they expected. It brought back memories of the captain. He was squishy too, when he shook their hand. How long had it been since then?  
  
Cipher twitched his hand back, not know what to make of the reaction.  
  
"Nah, don't worry about it." Cipher didn't know what that meant, exactly, or what that meant about Sim's situation, but-- well, Cipher was a little busy being smitten by the stranger, so he was fit to give Sim a pass on just about anything. "So what were you and Chess talking about?"  
  
"She was curious about me. Tried to explain... Failed."  
  
"Well, gimme a shot. Maybe I can wrap my head around it."  
  
Sim looked hesitant. "Don't know many words..." They shook their head, retracting their hand to press against their chest. "Don't want to try again. Maybe... later?"  
  
"Yeah, yeah, that’s fine," Cipher assured them, reaching out then stopping, withdrawing his hand. "I'm gonna go see how my buddies are doing. You wanna stay here? Get some-- uh, rest?" Did Sim need sleep?  
  
Sim ran their other hand across the bedsheets, blinking. "Sure."  
  
"Alright." Cipher offered a smile as he stood, giving the bed a pat. "We'll be back in a bit." He gave a little wave before heading out toward the control room again.  
  
Sim returned the wave before stretching across the mattress, greedily taking up every inch, emitting a sound akin to a purr.

Madens had explained the situation to Chessur, the captain was giving them their freedom, in exchange for his life. In turn, Chessur had taken Dell into her care. She propped him up in his desk chair, tending to his wounds to keep him from bleeding out any further. Tightening the bandages around his hand, she gave his good knee a reassuring pat. "How's that?"  
  
The captain glanced at her work with a tired eye. "... Better, thank you," he said, barely above a whisper. Already, the captain began to nod off again. The man was exhausted and in immense pain, so consciousness wasn't something that came easily right now.  
  
Chessur beamed, "No problem!"  
  
Cipher peered around the corner before entering, trying not to grimace at how close to the captain that Chessur was, and alone. "So, uh. What's up?"  
  
Chessur carefully lifted the captain's broken leg to strap a piece of the rolling crutch around his cast. "Sooo, Mr. Dell here is giving us freedom, n'first class tickets to our next destination, in exchange for his life and stuff." She nodded.  
  
"Huh." Cipher nodded, looking slowly toward Madens. Not that he was going to complain, but the thief was curious what had made the captain change his tune.  
  
Actually, no, he didn't want to know. "Sounds good to me." Edging a little farther in, he looked toward the camera feed that showed Sim, sprawled out and relaxing. "What's up with our space pal?" he asked, looking toward Chessur. She'd gotten some details from them that Cipher wasn't privy to.  
  
"What do you mean?" Chessur fixed the lapels on Dell’s fresh new coat, grabbing the man's arms and pulling him upright, clicking his leg into the crutch that she had fetched earlier. In all honesty, it was like she was working with a zombie right now.  
  
Watching Chessur handle the captain was making him feel creepy-crawly. "Like, what are they? You two were chatting before I got there." He settled into a chair, looking at the computer to see if he could find anything that had survived the wipe.  
  
"Man, I don't know, something about living... sentient... matter... They can change their form from like... being solid to... being a liquid and then a kind of fog..." She shrugged, folding her arms and leaning against Dell with crossed ankles.  
  
The captain glanced over at Cipher, tousling Chessurs hair for treating him like some wall.  
  
"Huh. Cool." Cipher nodded, glancing over-- then furrowing his brows, glaring at the captain. _Don't_ , he mouthed, threateningly.  
  
Dell met Cipher's glare, smiling innocently as he curled his fingers into Chessur's hood and pulled it over her head. "Oh no," he brought a hand up to his mouth with a gasp, "I'm such a menace...!" He chuckled.  
  
"Hey--!" Chessur jumped, pulling back her hood and shaking the hair from her eyes. "Heh, jerk." She punched his side.  
  
Dell jumped, half expecting the punch to blow a hole in his hip-- laughing nervously when, to his relief, it didn’t.  
  
Something uncomfortable roiled in Cipher's gut. "Hey, Chess, maybe don't be so friendly with the guy who tried to torture us," he said, trying not to sound hurt as he looked away.  
  
Madens glanced over, visibly displeased at the news that she was acting chummy with the captain. "Don't touch her," he said, voice icy as he pinned the captain with a look.  
  
Chessur couldn't help it, she hated the tension and acting chummy was the best way to melt away the ice. She hated feeling... bitter, angry. Humor was her go-to. But Madens’ scolding and Cipher's comment made her feel in the wrong. So she put some distance between herself and the captain, "Right... Sorry."  
  
Her tone made Cipher feel bad, but he didn't say anything. He didn't want her getting hurt by that lunatic.  
  
Dell rolled his eye, pushing up his sleeve to check his watch, "Anyway... Ready to go?"  
  
Cipher pushed himself up from the chair. "I'll go get Sim.”  
  
"Got it, we'll meet you by the elevator!" Chessur saluted, leading her way out of the control room. Dell followed, leaning against his crutch as he rolled along. Sim... They'll be nice to see.

Sim had grabbed all the blankets and pillows within their vicinity and made a little nest to lounge in, Cipher saw as he peered in. He couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. "Hey," he greeted, stepping in. "We're heading up to the main floors. Made a... deal with the captain. First class from here on out." Walking over to the nest, he perched on the edge. "Bet you can make an even bigger nest up there. Comfier pillows, too."  
  
Sim lit up, quite literally, their glow illuminating the rich blues and purples that swirled behind the glass they were made up of. "Wow, first class? How nice of him!" The alien watched the side of their nest compress under Cipher's weight. "Oh yes, you are right. Good idea."  
  
"Nice?" Cipher looked surprise, before snorting. "Dunno about that. He's just doing it to save his own hide. But it's gonna be nice for us." Cipher patted the nest, standing. "C'mon, pal, let's meet 'em at the elevator."  
  
Sim looked confused, but slipped out from the piles of pillows and coiled blankets nonetheless. "Okay."  
  
Standing, Cipher beckoned the alien to follow, leading the way over to the elevators. He made sure to keep himself between Sim and the captain, not sure how the ex-Popsicle would react to their tormentor. Madens watched their approach, eye flickering at the sight of Sim, before giving a little nod in greeting.  
  
Sim mimicked Ciphers wave from earlier in response to Madens nod. "I remember you! Hello! How are you?" Madens noticed at once; Sim… didn't seem too bothered by the captain's presence. The captain was typing in the elevator’s code, and almost immediately the doors slid open. Chessur was the first to stroll inside, "Phew, I'm happy to leave this damn floor."  
  
Cipher glanced at Sim, glad that they didn't seem traumatized, then waited for Madens and the captain to enter the elevator before following.  
  
Madens stood near the captain, turning a narrowed eye on the man. "Don't forget what I said," he murmured, low enough not to be heard by anyone else, as he put a hand over the captain's stomach and pushed, to remind him of what was inside.  
  
Not so much the comment, but more his touch, was what sent chills down Dell’s spine. Having an amoeba who was previously torturing you for elevator codes squeeze your pudge like he was expecting you to birth his child was... exceedingly disturbing, and made Dell’s skin crawl in all the wrong ways. He pushed Madens’ hand away. "Yes, yes, I have exceptional memory,” he grumbled.  
  
Madens growled at being touched, swatting the captain's hand away from his own before slouching against the wall, glaring at the numbers on the screen. The captain typed in another code to send them straight to the floor holding first class passengers. Thankfully assigning his _guests_ tickets and privileges won't be hard, he always left a few slots open for emergencies such as these.  
  
Chessur leaned against Madens. "I'm so ready for bed my dude..." Madens made a noise of agreement, laying an arm over her shoulder. He was... honestly exhausted.  
  
Cipher was staring at Sim, mildly perturbed at the alien's proximity to the captain. Sim seemed okay even… standing _beside_ Dell. If anything, they looked like they _preferred_ to. Were they... not afraid of him? "Sim?" he ventured after a moment. "Wanna come stand with me?" He patted his thigh, a coaxing gesture.  
  
Sim looked confused. "Why?" they asked.  
  
Cipher didn't know how to answer that. Not properly. So he tried, "'Cause I like standing with my friends," and offered a smile.  
  
Sim blinked, gesturing over to them and the captain. "You could come over here?"  
  
Dell leaned back from the elevator’s panel, gaze following the direction of Sim’s gesture and settling on the thief trying to coax them over.  
  
Cipher swallowed thickly, not wanting to look at the captain. "Can't say I'd call him a friend," he ventured.  
  
"Oh." Sim exchanged a look between the two, deciding to join Cipher's side of the elevator. "Why?"  
  
There was a soft ding and the elevator doors slid open. Cipher twitched at Sim’s question, even as Dell was the first to leave and take in the fresh air. They couldn't do anything to him up here... for the most part.  
  
Staring uncomprehendingly at the alien, Cipher shook his head. "He... kidnapped us. Threatened to torture us?" His tone was incredulous. "He stuck you in a freezer, Sim, why are you so... calm about it?"  
  
Sim's eyes flickered. "What? No... captain Dell did not do that." Captain Dell was the one who so generously gave them their room. The person who drugged them and shoved them in a freezer had a mask and never spoke... They couldn't possibly be the same person...  
  
Cipher startled, staring at Sim, but had no time to respond before the captain was interrupting. "Both of you drop it and get out here so I can show you your rooms, please." Dell gestured outside of the elevator.  
  
Chessur trotted out, twirling as she took in the pristine hall around them. Cipher shot a glare and a growl at the man. "You--"  
  
"Go," Madens cut in, pushing Cipher into the hall.  
  
Grinding his teeth, Cipher looked at Sim again, then held out a hand. "Come on."  
  
Sim tilted their head, poking at Cipher's hand just like they did when he first offered for them to shake it. Right. Right. Cipher turned his hand over again, warning before he pressed the pads of his fingers into Sim's palm. Any sort of leading contact.  
  
"Sim, could you do me a favor?" Dell spoke up with a smile, checking his wristwatch once more as notifications flooded across its screen the second it connected to the wifi. _Where are you?_ he read, _You've been down there for hours, we have guests wanting to meet you._  
  
The way Cipher stiffened when Dell spoke up was telling of the newfound protectiveness he felt over the alien. Gritting his teeth, he cut a furious look toward the captain, only for Madens to smack him upside the head before he could speak.  
  
Sim looked up. "Yes, sir?"  
  
"Lead our guests to their rooms for me, please? They'll be staying in A1 and 2."  
  
Sim nodded, "Yes, sir."  
  
Taking a deep breath through his nose, Cipher looked at Sim and said, "Thanks, Sim," ignoring the captain altogether. "Let's go." Anything to get away from Dell.  
  
Sim slipped their dainty fingers in between Cipher's before moving ahead. "Okay, this way."  
  
Cipher curled his fingers gently, interlocking their hands loosely as he followed.  
  
Chessur reached her hand for Madens’ shirt, to keep herself from getting lost or wandering off along the way. Unfortunately, found that Madens still didn't have any of his clothes, and instead her hand sank into his fluid. Looking up, she made a face, then hugged the shit out of that arm to keep herself anchored. Madens snorted, allowing this.  
  
As much as Cipher wanted to admire their surroundings, he was stuck staring at Sim. He had to tell them that the captain was the one who kidnapped them...  
  
Quick to pick up on Cipher's intent gaze, Sim looked back at the thief, glowing warmly. "Yes?"  
  
Cipher felt the warmth from the other, and smiled a bit, trying not to betray his concern. "Nothin'. Just looking forward to a nice comfy bed."  
  
"Me too. Glad Captain Dell sorted things out downstairs." Sim swung their hands gently, eyes flickering across the numbers of each room they pass.  
  
Fingers twitching, Cipher eased his grip a bit tighter around Sim's, still loose but... more secure. "..."  
  
"What are your friends’ names?" Sim asked, glancing back at the girl clinging to the amoebas arm.  
  
Cipher glanced over, snorting at the sight. "The goop is Madens, the girl is Chessur." Glancing down at his hand, gaze lingering on the ring, he realized how long Blackburn had been silent.  
  
Following Cipher's glance, Sim lifted their clasped hands and tapped Cipher's ring curiously. "Pretty."  
  
Laughing, he nodded. "Yeah, guess so. It's got a ghost in it." He wiggled his fingers in a show of mystery.  
  
"Ghost?" Sim echoed, slowing as they reached their rooms.  
  
"Mm." Cipher didn't know whether Sim was surprised by the fact that a ghost was in the ring, or was asking what a ghost was. They could get to that later.  
  
Chessur ran her eyes along the door’s luxurious frame. "Holy shit,” she murmured, "Hell yeah!"  
  
Sim sunk their hand casually into their chest and pulled out... a card? They swiped it through the card reader and the doors unlocked.  
  
It made Cipher stop to see Sim pull a card out of their chest. A card for the door, he made note of, staring as the suite was revealed. But still-- where had Sim gotten the card?  
  
"We can share a room," Cipher said after a moment, looking at Sim and then to his two guides. "Since you two are friends. Talk to you later bye!" And with that he pulled Sim toward the next room, looking to them to unlock it.  
  
Chessur pushed open their room doors and ran into the suite. "Fuck me up! Come on Madens, let’s order some food! I'm starving!"  
  
Madens followed her in, appraising the room. It _was_ nice. Flopping onto the bed, he stretched himself out, sighing.  
  
Chessur scooped up the nearest phone, admiring how slim and dainty the device was before looking up the front desks number. "Okay big guy, whatcha want, burgers, pizza? They have that on a cruise ship, right?"  
  
"I want a metric fuckton of alcohol," he deadpanned, lifting his head to stare at her.  
  
Chessur stared back, lips pursed and eyes wide. "...Mmmmmmn," she hummed, dialing in the number. "That's fair, okay, you got it, #same."  
  
"Damn right," Madens muttered, flopping back again.

* * *

Sim blinked, catching Cipher's look and quickly unlocking the door. "I have my own room,” they said as Cipher pulled them away.  
  
Cipher hesitated, before swinging his hand in Sim's a bit idly. "We have to talk," he said finally, giving the other's hand a little tug to try and lead him inside.  
  
Sim tucked the card back into their form. "... Okay?" they replied, a bit timidly as they stepped into Cipher's room, memories of a similar situation stirring in their mind.  
  
Dropping himself onto the bed-- surprised by the comfort but not letting himself be distracted-- Cipher ran a hand through his hair. "Sim, I don't know what happened to you, or... much of anything right now, really. But the captain is the one who put you in that freezer. He suckered us in here, then locked us up too."  
  
Sim stood there, seemingly indifferent to Cipher's accusation. They brought their thin fingers up to their chin, looking elsewhere as they sorted out their thoughts. "I... am going to talk to Captain Dell about it. Whole thing was... un... Unfortunate... A... m...misun… derstanding, yes."  
  
Startled at Sim's reaction, Cipher stood and moved carefully over to them, reaching out for their hand. "Sim," he started, gingerly, gently. "The guy's crazy. He's dangerous. Whatever he said to you or did to you, it doesn't matter." Folding his hands over Sim's, he watched the alien closely. "You're safe now, okay?"  
  
Sim pulled back, stepping away from the thief. Cipher wasn't making any sense. _He_ sounded like the crazy one. "I should go. You are... confused. I will sort things out. Do not worry." They gave a reassuring pat to Cipher's outstretched hand, then turned away to leave.  
  
"Sim--!" He didn't reach out, but he couldn't let Sim leave. "Please, listen to me. He's _dangerous_. He threatened to kill me. He _did_ kill others." The memory of the other rooms, with their bodies, made Cipher shudder. "Why don't you believe me? Why do you trust him so much?"  
  
Sim pressed their hand to the door, shoulders sinking as Cipher persisted. "Captain Dell is my boss." They glanced back at him, the colors whirling inside their form shifting in hue somewhat. "I have been working with him for a very long time."  
  
_Boss?_ Cipher felt sick. "Sim..." That bastard. Doing something so horrible to someone that trusted you so implicitly. "I don't want you to get hurt again," he said, voice quiet. "Please. Don't go." _Don't go to him._  
  
There was a low hum from the alien before they pushed open the door, "I will be back. Okay?" They emitted a soothing glow.  
  
Cipher withdrew, wrapping his arms tightly around himself. "... Okay," he murmured, wishing there was more he could do.  
  
Sim waved and slipped out into the hall, door clicking softly behind them.  
  
Dropping back onto the bed, then flopping onto his back, Cipher closed his eyes and sighed heavily. Gods, he just wanted to follow Sim. Protect them. He barely even knew them, but there was something about them…  
  
"You alive in there, you spooky bastard?" he mumbled, rolling onto his side to peer at his ring.  
  
Colors enriched by the suite’s warm lights, the ring sat dormant on Ciphers finger, not even flickering in the slightest.  
  
Waiting for a while, then finally sighing, Cipher curled up on the bed, tugging the sheets over himself. "Yeah," he muttered, "Same..." It was time for a goddamn nap. Assuming he could even fall asleep after the day he'd just had.


	5. Chapter 5

 

Coddled in the warmth of the silky sheets, sleep came easy. In fact, it came a little too easy. Cipher was out like a light within mere moments. All the more surprising was that he remained asleep, wiped from the excitement of the day. Exhaustion had dragged him down faster than he'd expected, and its hold had been tighter than he'd like.  
  
It was hours later that Chessur peeked over the edge of Cipher's bed. "Cipher... Cipher, hey," she whispered, tugging on the covers. "Cipher... Cipher you've been sleeping for a whole day... Get the hell up and come to the pool with me... Cipher."  
  
Waking after so long, drowsy and drained rather than refreshed, he groaned and rolled over. "What?" he mumbled, rubbing at his eyes before facing Chessur again. "What..?"  
  
"Wake up, let's go to the pool, it's huuuge and it has its own wave-thing. I don't wanna go alone, but Madens is wiped out from drinking." Chessur booped his nose. "Please? Come on, I bet you're hungry too."  
  
"Drinking? That guy can drink?" Groaning again, Cipher forced himself to sit up, digging the heel of his palms into his eyes as he yawned. "Pool? Pool sounds good." Running his fingers through his hair, he glanced at the ceiling, then the door.  
  
"Awesome!" Chessur jumped up, bouncing her hands atop Cipher's bedside, then running over to pull open his curtains and reveal that his window was currently overlooking the face of a nearby planet. "Check out our first-class view! Pretty sweet huh?"  
  
Cipher whistled appreciatively, swinging himself off the bed to go check it out. "Nice," he agreed, plopping a hand on her head to tousle her hair. "C'mon, let's go find the store and get ourselves some swimsuits."  
  
Chessur blew her ruffled bangs from her eyes as she whipped around and headed for the door, "Sounds like a plan!"  
  
Cipher followed along, humming contemplatively. "Think the captain would give us some credits to buy stuff?" he wondered, grinning idly to himself at the thought. Having the captain foot the bill would be a dream come true.  
  
"He damn well better! We deserve them." Chessur huffed, strolling down the hall, tucking her hands in her back pockets. "How was your date with Sim last night?"  
  
Cipher winced at the mention of the alien, pocketing his own hands and staring at his feet. "... Sim works for the cruise," he said finally. "For the captain. They didn't think the captain would do that to them. So they left..."  
  
"Oh god, holy shit." Chess looked up at Cipher, concern painted clearly across her face. "They just... Left?"  
  
Cipher nodded, not meeting her look. If Sim didn't show up before long, then he was going to go looking. Or, more to the point, he was going to find the captain.  
  
"Man, I hope they're okay..." Looking ahead, they emerged from the hall and into the more open areas of the ship. Aliens of all shapes and sizes wandered about with their friends and families, roaming in and out of shops and restaurants. "God damn! This place is _huuuge!_ " Chessur twirled around, taking in all the sights and sounds bouncing off the high ceilings.  
  
"Shit, you aren't kidding," Cipher exclaimed, staring at the rich crowd. Mmm, god, his fingers were feeling itchy. But he resisted the temptation-- for now.  
  
"Alright! Now to find the captain... We need dem credits." Chessur made grabby hands, narrowed eyes scanning the crowd.  
  
As much as Cipher wasn't looking forward to seeing the captain again, he was quite enthused for those credits. "Let's ask someone in uniform," he suggested as his eyes fell upon one such person; her umber skin contrasted sharply with the white of the uniform, as well as her white-blond hair. "Excuse me?"  
  
She turned with a smile on her face. And upon laying eyes on them, it fell into annoyance. "Yes?"  
  
Cipher startled at the reception. "Uh..."  
  
She propped a hand on her hip, revealing the massive tech to be prosthetics adorning her entire arms. "Are you looking for captain Dell?" she asked, mechanical tail flicking with irritation.  
  
"Yeeess ma'am!" Chessur beamed, pressing her hands to her hips. "Do you think you could kindly point us in his direction?"  
  
She gave them each a once-over, not bothering to be subtle about it. "I'll bring you to him," she said, facing them fully. "I'm Charsynthe, quartermaster. And if I see those fingers dipping into any pockets, I'll break them." This was directed at Cipher, who stood straight as she turned and led the way.  
  
"... Scary," he muttered, wringing his hands together.Chessur exchanged a glance with Cipher, nodding quietly. The quartermaster... She must know full well who they are, and what they've done. Despite said fact, Chessur spoke up anyway, "Nice to meet ya, Charsynthe! I love your name, it's really pretty."  
  
Glancing back, she stared at Chessur, not slowing in her pace nor reacting. then, finally, she said, "Thank you," and looked forward again. Chessur looked pleased with that answer; at least she was polite!  
  
At the captain's quarters, Charsynthe raised a hand and knocked once. "Captain."  
  
"Come in," a familiar voice inside answered.  
  
Charsynthe pushed the door open as Dell looked up from his tablet, and situated herself to the side. "Your friends," she said dryly, hands folding in front of her. Cipher rolled his eyes as he stepped in, glancing around the room.  
  
Dell’s expression dropped once his eye settled on his two _friends_. "Ah, thank you, Charsynthe." He set aside his tablet.  
  
Charsynthe nodded, giving Cipher a warning glare before letting herself out. He stared after her, nose scrunched up.  
  
"Eeeyy!" Chessur shot finger guns at Dell, "How ya doin, Cap'n?"  
  
Dell blinked indifferently at Chessur's question. "Fine. What can I do for you two?"  
  
"We want some credits," Cipher said, making a vague hand gesture. "For swimsuits and stuff. We figure, you're a rich guy, you can afford to accommodate us for one trip. All things considered."  
  
"Yeah! Think you can hook us up?" Chessur rocked on her heels, taking note of all the portraits the captain had on his desk. She decided to stroll over and look.  
  
"Right... I actually had a suspicion you'd ask, so I prepared a card." Dell shifted, pulling open a drawer on his desk.  
  
Grinning to himself, Cipher strode over and plucked the card from the captain as soon as it was visible. "How much?" he asked, twirling it deftly between his fingers as he considered it.  
  
"A thousand." Dell folded his hands across his lap and leaned back in his plush desk chair. "Will that suffice?" Although credits were the last of his problems, he didn't want to go handing it away to the people he wasn't so particularly fond of.  
  
Whistling, Cipher clasped the card in his hand. "It should," he said with a nod as he pocketed it. "But if this place is expensive as fuck, then it might not last the whole trip. Fair warning." He grinned, offering a mock salute and turning on his heel. "Chess, c'mon. Fashion montage time."  
  
"Try not to spend it all at once," Dell added, lazily waving a hand. "Have fun."  
  
Chess pulled her attention away from the portraits, setting the one in hand back and jogging over. "Aw hell yes!!"  
  
Cipher was nearly out the door before he stopped, mood changing on a dime. It took him a second to turn around, staring at the captain with markedly less good humour than a moment ago. "Where is Sim?" he asked.  
  
Dell smiled, leaning his head on his hand. Cipher's interest in his little errand alien was most amusing. "Oooh let me think... Did I close the freezer door downstairs? Hmm..." He pursed his lips, tapping his shoe as he cupped his chin and mused.  
  
Chess frowned. "Aw, come on! No way you put them back..."  
  
Cipher didn't find it as funny as Dell seemed to. He crossed the room, grabbing the captain's collar and yanking him forward over the desk. "Where are they?" he demanded, free hand clenched against the tabletop.  
  
Chessur tried to pull Cipher back, hugging his waist. "Cipher, dude--"  
  
The captain sighed, "Envy," his wrist watch chiming and lighting up, listening for a command. "Tell Charsynthe that my _friends_ are playing a little too rough with me and need to be escorted out."  
  
" _Cipher_ ," Chessur pressed.  
  
"Where are they?!" Cipher shouted, ignoring Chessur's efforts.  
  
Two massive mechanical hands seized the pair, one around Chessur's slight waist and the other around Cipher's torso, lifting them both away. "Orders, captain?" Charsynthe asked, holding them both securely despite Cipher's wild squirming.  
  
Chessur groaned and ragdolled in Charsynthes grip. "God dammit, Cipher..." She grumbled.  
  
Dell fixed his shirt and tie. "To clear things up, Mr. Cipher, I want you to know Sim is a good friend of mine. Considering I gave them a job and a place to stay here on the ship, they admire me greatly." He plopped back down in his chair, taking off his hat to smooth back his ruffled hair. "I sent them off to do a few errands for me, you might even see them around. Also, thank you Charsynthe, just take them back to the market level, please."  
  
Cipher growled, prying at the fingers wrapped around his chest. "Friends don't lock friends in freezers!" he snarled, kicking even as Charsynthe turned toward the door. "You bastard--!"  
  
Charsynthe shook him once, with enough force that butterflies erupted in his stomach and the room spun for a moment. "Yes, sir," she said, leaving the door to close behind her as she carried them downstairs. Cipher didn't fight, and when she put them both on their feet, he didn't say anything to her.  
  
"Welp..." Chess fixed her shirt. "Thanks for the ride, Miss Charsynthe!"  
  
"Goodbye, Chessur," Charsynthe said, returning to her work upstairs.  
  
"Slimy-- fuckin'--" Cipher was growling, hands clamped together like he was wringing Dell's neck.  
  
"On the bright side--" Chessur turned her attention back to her companion, patting his back softly. "He said we'd see Sim around! I wonder if they're wearing a cute little outfit like the rest of the crew. Also-- we have a thousand bucks. Let’s go spend 'em!"  
  
Taking a deep breath, Cipher forced himself to face forward, nodding. Right. Sim was safe for now. (According to the captain, but he didn't let himself think on that for long.) "Right. Fashion montage. Let's go."  
  
Chessur ran ahead. "Bathing suits first! I'll beat you there!" She called out, disappearing into the crowd.  
  
Cipher stared after her, then rolled his eyes as he followed. Then, because he was feeling competitive, he began to weave through the crowd, agile and quick as he hurried toward the shop.  
  
On her way there, Chessur ran into one too many obstacles, from wet floors to the cruise ship security insisting she slow the fuck down. When she finally got to their destination, she wasn’t surprised to find herself in last place. "Oh my god okay, horrible idea, horrible race, wow."  
  
Long since lounging in the doorway, Cipher laughed when she finally appeared. "I'm a master at crowds," he reminded her, tipping a fake hat with a wink. "C'mon, let's get some swim suits and hit up the pool."  
  
Chessur nodded, nearly clinging to Cipher’s leg after that, dreading being pulled back into one of the many crowds passing through. Chuckling, he led her into the store, browsing the aisles for himself. "Hey, Chess, how old _are_ you?" he asked, glancing over the rack. "I forget if you've told me, but seriously, it's hard to imagine you not being a kid."  
  
"Twenty-one, I'll be twenty-two in August," she replied, occasionally peeking at an outfit or two as they browsed. "But yeah, I get that a lot."  
  
"Where're you from?" Rare was the day that Cipher had to change clothes. But he was willing to strip from his worn-and-loved attire if it was for the sake of swimming. The swimsuits he was picking out were a wide variety of tastes, from Hawaiian chic to plain black.  
  
"This big ol' planet called Teränia." The girl found herself wandering from Cipher’s side to dig into some end-isle knick-knacks. Fidget spinners? Sign her the fuck up.  
  
"Want one of those? Grab a few." It was on the captain's bill, anyway. Cipher wasn't gonna think twice about picking things up. "D'you wear kids swimsuits?" He couldn't help but snicker.  
  
Chessur grabbed one and tried to spin it and balance it on her nose. "Nah, usually places have a size small enough in the woman's section to fit me. Especially in places catering to all kinds of alien customers."  
  
"Ah, true." Cipher had spent too much time on primarily human-occupied planets, so his scope for alien accomodation was a little narrow. "We should match," he mused to himself, picking out a pair; a bikini and a pair of trunks, both with holographic gradients that were constantly changing colour in sync with one another.  
  
"Oh, my god, Cipher," Her eyes sparkled with delight, any and all toys she tried to balance on her face falling back into the rack she picked them from when she lifted her head. "You're a _genius!_ "  
  
It was in that moment Ciphers ring began to finally show signs of its inhabitant stirring from whatever deep slumber he had fallen into. Twitching, Cipher glanced at the ring, before handing Chessur the bikini. "Here, go try it on," he said, heading toward the change rooms. "I'll meet you out here in a sec." Closing himself away in the room, he plopped down onto the bench sticking out of the wall and focused on the ring. "Hey, Black," he murmured, running the pad of his thumb over the metal. "How you feelin'?"  
  
The pirate groaned. "F-Fucking... awful. I was stuck in some... looping... n-nightmare..." Black sounded genuinely-- shaken. "I don't... ever want to do that again... if I can help it..." He sighed.  
  
Surprised, Cipher curled his hand closer to his middle-- an attempt at comfort, if one could comfort a ring. "Oh..." Part of him felt bad-- Blackburn had gone through that for his sake. Or rather, it was his fault. Though it wasn't like they'd really had a choice in the matter.  
  
But... "... Thank you," he said, quietly.  
  
Finding comfort in Cipher’s presence, although he'd try to never admit it, the pirate’s tone came back softer. "You're welcome." He paused. "How long has it been? Where are we? What happened?"  
  
Ah, right. Cipher took a moment to reorient his memories, then began: "I slipped through, like you said. Chessur had done something to lure the captain away, so I was able to lock him in her room, then let Madens out. They brought him back and, uh... Madens made a... deal with him. So now we have first class tickets, plus basically a credit card, and he gets to-- well, not die." It's a pretty simplistic summary.  
  
"Not die? Fair, I suppose, but what of his freaky little lab?" Blackburn asked.  
  
Cipher shrugged, uncomfortable. "I dunno. Not our problem, I guess?" Though he furrowed his brows as Sim came to mind...  
  
The pirate huffed. After the arguments Dell had brought up to Cipher before Blackburn was overcome with sleep, he figured it was for the best. "So, what are we doing now?"  
  
"Uh. Shopping." Cipher grinned, waving his technicolour swim trunks.  
  
Black chuckled. "Oh, joy... And how's first class been treating you?"  
  
"I passed out," he admit. "Apparently all night. And a good chunk of the day." Standing, he stripped off his pants, tugging the trunks up. "Aha, perfect fit. Haven't gained an inch of fat on these hips."  
  
"They look good on you." Blackburn hummed. For as many reasons as he found himself embarrassed by it, Cipher was still pleased with the compliment.  
  
"Yo Ciph, you try 'em on yet? Mine fits, you got a good eye for my size, funny enough!" Chessur called out on the other side of the thief's dressing room door.  
  
Standing, he gathered up his pants and stepped out, not bothering to remove his shirt yet. "Same here," he said, plucking up a pair of sunglasses from the discard pile and dropping them onto the bridge of his nose.  
  
Chessur grinned, tucking her folded clothes underneath her arm. "You're lookin' so fly!" She laughed, then trailed off as she noticed the familiar glow of the ring. "So! How's Reuby?"  
  
"Fine, thank you." Blackburn spoke up. So polite today, Black. That nightmare must have scared his manners back into him.  
  
"Nice to have you back amongst the living Reubs! Well, for the most part anyway." She shrugged.  
  
Cipher snorted, cuffing Chessur before grabbing her shoulder and steering her toward the cash. "We're taking these," he said, fishing into his pants pocket for the card and laying it on the counter with a _click_.  
  
The alien at the counter arched a ridge at the sight of Cipher's card. It had the captain's name on it. "And you'll be payin'... with this card?"  
  
"Yepp!" Chessur chirped, scooping up a candy bar and tossing it with their other things.  
  
"Mmhm. Special guests of the good captain," he said, propping an elbow on the counter with a grin.  
  
Half suspicious, the alien considered calling to make sure. On the other hand, their shift was almost over, and they didn't fucking feel like it. "If ya say so." They scooped up their scanner and shot the tags dangling from Cipher’s and Chessur's clothes, along with the other items before swiping the card and handing it back. "Have fun at the pool." Cipher beamed at the alien, dropping his shades onto his nose again and pocketing the card.  
  
"I wonder..." Chessur spoke up, peeling back the wrapper of her recently purchased candy. "How much we can get away with... saying we're special guests of the Cap'n?"  
  
Striding out with Chessur, stealing the candy bar after she opened it, he made a sound of consideration. "Dunno. What's that devious mind of yours thinkin'?"  
  
Chessur blinked at her now empty hand, deciding to land a soft punch into Cipher's side. "Jerk." She snickered. "Anyway... The Cap'n probably sent out a memo to all of his crew that we were gifted first class tickets, right? I bet you all of security thinks we're good friends of his or something, cause obviously he wouldn't want everyone to think he just handed the tickets to a bunch of lowlifes... Right?"  
  
Laughing, he broke a piece off for himself and handed it back. As she explained, his eyes lit up. "Oh... Yeah, probably."  
  
"Sooo... dont'cha think that gives us a V.I.P pass to whatever the hell we want?" She looked up at Cipher as she took a bite of the bar, cheeks somewhat full she continued, "Dont'cha think security will be too chicken shit to stop us in fear of upsetting their superior?"  
  
Cipher was laughing outright now, having to slow down and brace his hands on his knees. "You're worse than I am!" he snickered, stifling his words against the back of his wrist. "Madens isn't around and your first thought is _let's fuck with security_. Chess, you're an angel."  
  
She swallowed her bite. "Cut me some slack, I love Mads but he's a real hardass! I mean, like--" She tried to explain further but Cipher's laugh was damn contagious, "You get me, right? What's the worst that could happen? I think we deserve a day of goofing off!"  
  
It took him a while to regain his composure, shoving her shoulder. "You're an absolute menace. Yeah, we can do that. But you've got my hyped up for this pool, so we're dealing with that first. Hey Blackburn, is your ring waterproof?"  
  
"I believe so," Blackburn replied.  
  
"Can you change your form so you're wearing a bathing suit too?" Chess blurted out, liking the idea of them all just chillin' and enjoying the pool.  
  
"That's the stupidest question I've ever heard," Blackburn snapped. Chessur awaited her answer, patiently, and eventually Blackburn gave in. "...I'll... see. Maybe..."  
  
Cipher spluttered out a laugh at the thought of Blackburn in a swimsuit. "Oh yeah, that's a definite gotta see," Cipher said, throwing an arm around Chessur's shoulders. "C'mon, Blackburn, it's either a swimsuit or you get left with the towels."  
  
Blackburn snarled at Cipher's threat, be it empty or not. The idea of being left alone not even moments after waking up from series of horrible night terrors didn't settle well with the pirate.  
  
The reaction was over-the-top even for Blackburn, and it startled Cipher enough that he actually realized why. "Ah--" He winced, though Chessur spoke before he could reassure the pirate. He'd... say something later. Still, he shot Blackburn an apologetic look.  
  
"Come on! It'll make it seem like... you're... _there_ with us," Chessur persisted, clasping her hands together in a pleading gesture. " _Pleeease?_ "  
  
Spotting the reflection of Cipher's look, the ring flickered in acknowledgement. Then, Black cursed underneath his breath. "Fine. Hold on..." Reluctantly, Blackburn weaved-- from the threads of whatever supernatural substance made up his form in the first place-- an outfit for himself.  
  
Wide brimmed sunhat, flip flops, palm tree-pattern shorts and a striped tank top that hung loosely around his triangular torso was what he decided to conjure up; all pieces of clothing he happened to catch eye of back at the shop they recently left. Outfit aside, Cipher and Chessur got the chance to see what the hell this guy looked like underneath his usual attire. He had something akin to an exoskeleton, with spines prominent on his forearms and down his back. They were nice and shiny.  
  
"Yeesss!!" Chessur bounced up and down.  
  
Cipher whistled, long and appreciative as he offered a thumbs up. "Looking good, spookster." He grinned, then turned to face the wave pool. "Now let's go have some fun."  
  
Spookster. That was a new one, Blackburn thought.  
  
Chess took off running, which resulted in her slipping on the way there, but thankfully she was close enough to the edge of the pool she just plopped into the water with a small sploosh.  
  
"Literally the one universal rule for pools is _don't run_ ," Cipher groaned, following behind her and hopping into the shallow end. "Dummy."  
  
Chessur bobbed up to the water's surface, smoothing back her wet hair. “Shuddup, I meant to do that." She stuck her tongue out at Cipher.  
  
Blackburn took his spot in a vacant lounge chair nearby, stretching out across it with a blissful sigh. Anyone who dared to try and sit down in his spot got a swift kick to the ass.  
  
Stretching himself out, Cipher floated on his back, keeping a hand on the edge to keep from drifting too far away. Didn't want to go dragging Blackburn out of his seat, after all.  
  
Chessur swam over, taking in the beautiful flowers and other tropical flora the pool was surrounded in. It was otherworldly, seeing the stretch of stars past the dome above them, but feeling the warmth of the specialized lights shining down like the sun.  
  
Speaking of stars-- "Hey, dude." She nudged Cipher's floating leg. "Found Sim.”  
  
Cipher had his eyes closed, the aesthetics mostly passing him by. It wasn't all that impressive to him; so it looked pretty, he wasn't gonna fawn over it besides as a landmark of how high up on the socioeconomic ladder they were currently hanging out on. Mention of Sim, however, had him floundering upright, bracing himself on the edge of the pool as he looked to where Chessur indicated. "I'll be right back," he said immediately, hauling himself out of the pool.  
  
Chessur opened her mouth to object but decided not to bother. "I'll be watchin’ from over here!" She shrugged.  
  
Sim was sitting at an outside eating area for a restaurant not too far off. Though, as Cipher grew closer, he realized they were sitting with his good ol' favorite fellow: Dell.  
  
Cipher didn't get far; between Blackburn anchored himself to his seat and the shock of seeing the captain, he was pulled right off his feet. "Where are you going?" Blackburn asked, feeling the tug on their tether. Without its occupant, the ring refused to allow Cipher from going any further.  
  
"To see Sim," he answered without thinking, before gritting his teeth as he clambered back up to his feet.  
  
"Who?" Blackburn raised a brow, turning his head to the thief.  
  
Cipher was bristling, straining at the leash. "Sim," he repeated, "They were in a freezer, the captain kidnapped them too but they don't believe me--"  
  
Blackburn sat up to look, spotting Sim through the plethora of flora, sitting at the captain’s table. "Ah," he said simply, watching Cipher tug at their link like some anxious puppy. Letting himself drift away from his seat he sighed, "Go on then."  
  
"Thank you," he hissed, not mad at Blackburn but already hastening over.  
  
Without an ounce of grace he plopped himself down at a chair between the two, propping his chin on a hand as he grinned angrily at the captain. "Hello, you two."  
  
Cipher's sudden appearance made the pair jump.  
  
The captain grumbled, "Hello, Mr. Cipher. What a delight to have you join us..." He forgot the fact that the thief had mentioned _swimsuits_ earlier, otherwise he would have chosen a different restaurant.  
  
Sim waved nonchalantly. "How are you?"  
  
The glance he gave to Sim was markedly kinder, though edging on sad. "I'm-- alright." He looked at Dell, eyes hardening again. "So how long have you been working for the captain, Sim?"  
  
Sim paused, quiet, trying to count on their fingers. "Five...Yes."  
  
"Oh, god." Dell leaned back with a groan, "Here's an interesting thought... Go away? Maybe?" He gestured.  
  
Sim glanced at him. "captain Dell was helping me with words..."  
  
"Here's a new word, Simmy: Nuisance," Dell growled, glaring down the thief at their table.  
  
Sim blinked. "N...Nu...isance?"  
  
Cipher glared right back. "How about _liar?_ " He clenched his fist on the table.  
  
"Liar... I know that one..." Sim said quietly.  
  
The captain leaned in. "I have been nothing but honest with Sim--" He was interrupted by a child tugging on his pant leg.  
  
_Honest._ Cipher was ready to snap at the man, only to go still at the sudden appearance of the kid.  
  
"Hey Mister... are you... a pirate?" The kid’s eyes gleamed up past the bandana tied around their head, up at the man with the peg-leg crutch and eyepatch.  
  
Blinking, Dell laughed, raising from his seat to lead the little guy back to his parents who were watching from the side. "Arrgh, ya caught me!" He scooped the toddler into his arms, to which they giggled and cheered.  
  
His first instinct was to keep the boy away from the captain, but in this setting, any scene would just rouse suspicion against himself instead. So he did nothing, staring after Dell apprehensively.  
  
Sim watched along with him, but as soon as the captain limped off to meet the parents they turned back to Cipher. "Having fun... at the pool?"  
  
Sim's question drew his attention away from Dell, and he... wanted to act normal. Chat with Sim. But he was too _worried_. "Yeah," he murmured, looking toward Chessur then back at Sim. "Do you... swim?" It was hard to pretend everything was okay.  
  
Sim shook their head. "No, I sink, I am too heavy." They reached out to lay their hand over Cipher's clenched fist. "Are you okay?"  
  
The touch was more reassuring than Cipher expected, and he met Sim's look. "... not really," he admit, voice a mumble as he looked away.  
  
Blackburn took the opportunity to trip Dell's ass when he was heading back to the table, which caused a small fuss of people trying to help the captain back up. Blackburn then floated back to Cipher's side with a chuckle. The crash of the captain falling as markedly less entertaining than he'd like, but he managed a quick, grateful look at Blackburn.  
  
"Why?" Sim's eyes dimmed, carrying a bluer hue than usual.  
  
Blackburn leaned against the table, glancing towards Sim’s hand laid over Ciphers.  
  
Cipher exhaled through his nose. It felt pointless to pursue the topic, but he still said, "You know why." He didn't want to argue with Sim. But he couldn't bring himself to just do nothing if Sim still trusted the captain.  
  
And for that Sim felt bad. Cipher barely knew them and yet he was so set on making sure they were safe. "I talked to captain Dell... He confessed. Apologized." They withdrew their hand, looking elsewhere.  
  
Cipher startled, quickly grasping Sim's hand back. "What? He did--? What did he say?" Cipher bristled at the thought that Dell would try to make Sim underestimate what he'd done to them. That bastard.  
  
"He... said he did not mean any harm. He was... curious. Gave me the option to leave..." Sim paused, shaking their head. "I do not want to." Their stay in the freezer wasn't particularly traumatizing, in all honesty they didn't even realize they were being experimented on at all.  
  
"Didn't mean harm!" Cipher exclaimed, fists clenching again, though not too tightly on Sim's hand. "Sim-- please, Sim, listen to me. You're my friend. I care about what happens to you. If I'm curious, then I ask you, or I ask your permission to try and get answers. I don't kidnap you and shove you in a freezer and lie about it. He's not good to you. He's dangerous." He wanted so badly for Sim to understand.  
  
Sim... couldn't, or... they just didn't want to. They wanted things to go back to normal. It wasn’t like captain Dell would do those things again, would he? Why did he do it, anyway? He did it to Cipher and his friends, too... Cipher said some subjects even died--  
  
No. That wasn't their business. Captain Dell had been so kind and so generous to them, whatever he was doing had to be for the better good. Sim was all too familiar with the concept of sacrifice; maybe that's why the others had died.  
  
Sim was silent, mind running over everything as Cipher clenched their hands firmly. By that time the captain had finally made it back to the table. "I'm meeting some important guests and I'd rather you not be here when they arrive, Mr. Cipher."  
  
Cipher shot the captain a withering glare. "And I rather not leave Sim with a manipulative, psychotic creep, but we can't all get what we want, can we?" He looked at the alien again, squeezing their hand gently. "Sim, please." At risk of sounding cheesy, Sim was too soft for the world. Er, universe. But Cipher could at least get them away from this known danger.  
  
As soon as Cipher turned his attention back to Sim, they looked saddened by his comment towards their beloved boss.  
  
Dell laughed, "I don't know about you, but _I_ sure can." He waved over a few security guards. "You have a knack for getting in trouble, don't you, Mr. Cipher."  
  
Slipping from Cipher's grasp, Sim pushed the thief's hands to his chest. "Enough. I have decided. Please drop it, or... I drop you..."  
  
It... hurt. Curling his fingers against his own chest, Cipher stared at Sim. It wasn't a sense of betrayal, exactly; Sim didn't owe him anything. But he was trying to help them. And they wouldn't let him. They-- were saying no.  
  
Dell took in a sharp breath through his teeth, outwardly _delighted_ to see Sim turn down Cipher's attempts. "Sss, tough luck, kiddo," he hummed, brimming with pride.  
  
Growling low in his throat, Cipher stood, ready to swing, only to have both arms seized by the guards. Despite his brief struggles, even as he was hefted right off his feet, Cipher managed to glower at the captain. "You better not--" He was being dragged away, and at a momentarily lance of panic, he cut off his own threat, eyes shooting toward Sim.  
  
It was about Sim. "If-- you change your mind--" He wanted that, would hold out hope for it. He wanted Sim to have better.  
  
But Cipher didn't get this far by holding on to what he couldn't have.  
  
Dell only smiled and waved his fingers at Cipher while he was dragged away. "Buh-bye." Sim watched alongside him, their stars nearly snuffed out by how dark their form had become, eventually looking away.  
  
When the was dumped back by his stuff by the guards, Cipher didn't make any move to return. The sting was still fresh, though, and so he stayed there for a bit, staring at the ceiling from where he was sprawled across a lawn chair.  
  
Chessur and Blackburn both dipped into Cipher's field of vision, leaning over the poor, defeated-looking thief stretched out across the chair. "I suppose we can't save them all, eh?" the pirate said, and Chessur gave a soft poke to Cipher's cheek.  
  
Cipher blinked lazily up at them, bummed but... not as much as one might expect. Mostly he looked tired with their antics. Having been given a mostly definitive answer, he was intent on moving on. If Sim ever changed their mind, he'd be there. But he wasn't going to agonize over something that he couldn't change-- not for lack of trying.  
  
"You're a pirate," he said to Blackburn, squinting up at him. "You don't really save anyone, do you?" He batted at Chessur's poking. She snorted, running off to jump back into the pool. This time she managed not to slip on her way there.  
  
"Typically, no," Blackburn admitted, leaning back. "But recently I've been saving your ass a _whole lot_. Does that count?"  
  
"Mm, half points," Cipher conceded. "You've got selfish reasons for needing to save me."  
  
"True." Blackburn took a seat in a chair beside Cipher’s. "You really like that alien, don't you?" he asked, eyes following Chessur as she tried to fight the waves.  
  
Groaning out loud, Cipher ran both hands through his hair. "They're-- Okay, first of all, they're so fucking... I don't know what?? But I felt knocked on my ass when I first saw them. They're-- gorgeous?" He was blushing up to his ears, brows furrowed. "But that aside, they're nice and gentle and all these great things that're rare in the universe and they're honestly the one out of us four that least deserved to go through captain Creep's Surprise Hell House."  
  
Blackburn found himself smiling at Cipher, stifling his sentimental approval of the thief's flushed face. He propped his chin up on his hand. "Gee, if that were a movie, I think I'd watch it." He chuckled.  
  
"After yesterday? I'd set the fuckin' rom on fire." Rolling over, Cipher stretched out his limbs, then slithered out of the chair. "I'm going back in the water."  
  
"Probably a good idea, it looks like you're about to spontaneously combust with a face so red," the pirate teased, gesturing towards the pool, then folding his arms behind his partially absent head he stretched back.  
  
"Shut up," Cipher grumbled, shooing the ghost away as he trudged over to the pool. Chessur shot up to the water's surface and splashed Cipher, making him yelp-- before a challenging glint came to his eyes and, with a deep breath, he cannon-balled into the water right beside her.  
  
Blackburn found himself shuffling through his available memories. Affection, love, crushes, they stirred something, familiarity and... sadness. Just like the nicknames did. He wondered if he'd ever find out why...  
  
Chessur sputtered when the wave overtook her and sent her back under. She resurfaced, spitting out a mouthful of pool water while combing back her soaked hair with her hands, laughing.  
  
Kicking to the surface, Cipher came up snickering, shaking his wet hair out of his face and shoving Chessur's head away. "Brat."  
  
Chessur bobbed atop the surface, landing a soft punch to Cipher's arm. "Jerk!" She grinned, pushing off his side to swim away.  
  
Cipher snorted, before drifting closer to the edge so that Blackburn wouldn't get dragged in.  
  
Chessur took a deep breath and dove under the water.  
  
"Do you want me to pull my chair to the edge so you can swim out?" Blackburn asked, taking note of how close Cipher was making sure to stay.  
  
Glancing over at the sound of Blackburn's voice, he smiled idly, treading water. "Yeah, sure. Thanks."  
  
So that Blackburn did, getting up and dragging the chair to the edge.  
  
Something akin to sandpaper brushed past Cipher's leg. The reaction was instantaneous; he squawked, launching himself out of the pool with both hands on the edge, before scrambling around to look into the water with surprise.  
  
A small reef shark swam in a circle where Cipher was previously floating.  
  
Blackburn leaned over to dip his hand into the water, and the shark swam up to meet it. "Scared ya," the shark said once it surfaced, with Chessur's voice.  
  
Cipher gawped down at the shark in disbelief. "Wh-- _Chess?!_ "  
  
"Ye!" Chess answered, using her tail to splash water up onto the pools edge.  
  
"How big can you get, anyway?" Blackburn asked.  
  
"Eehh... 'Bout the size of a rhino... And even then that'd be stretching me pretty thin." A flash of purple took over her form in a blink she was back to normal.  
  
Cipher fell back on his ass, staring at her. "What the fuck," he complained, staring at her. "You can do way more than I thought."  
  
"Oh, uh, yeah!" Chess pulled her arms atop the edge, beaming up at Cipher. "Wanna see any tricks?" She kicked her feet to make small waves of her own.  
  
Blackburn began to wonder if Chessur _purposely_ chose the form of a little girl to appear harmless...  
  
"No, not really," Cipher snorted, shoving her face away from the edge. "Get lost, I wanna swim in peace." He slipped back into the water, stretching himself out.  
  
"You're no fuuunnnn!" She floated away, dipping back underneath the surface.  
  
Cipher snorted, before drifting out a bit and taking the time to enjoy the pool.

* * *

There would be plenty more to enjoy; the casino (he cheated and didn't get caught), the theater, the restaurants (they bothered the captain when they found him), the casino again (he cheated and got caught), more shopping montages, not to mention the spa and the room service they binged on.  
  
Yet somehow, their best moments weren’t spent throwing money at whatever petty indulgence they fancied. It was between ploys to bankrupt the captain that the four had found a minute together; a lull in Madens drinking himself silly, and a rare moment that Cipher and Chessur could be convinced to slow down.  
  
Warm colours painted the sky into a watercolour landscape, pinks and oranges splashing across the horizon against a violet backdrop of countless stars.Ships sailed through the clouds in the distance, white sails carrying them through the atmosphere of the picturesque planet that the cruise was visiting before the final leg of the journey.  
  
“Whoa, look.” It was Chessur who noticed first, wide-eyed as she braced her hands on the railing and stared out at the soft colours of sunset. Cipher looked up from showing Madens something on the screen of the tablet, focusing on first Chessur, and then following her gaze out toward the horizon.  
  
Slowing to a stop, the group each found a place against the railing, staring out at the stunning view. Madens folded the tablet back into his coat, and Cipher crossed his arms across the railing to lean forward. “Pretty,” he commented, and the navigator gave a silent nod of agreement.  
  
The wind whispered past, flicking hair and clothes back as they enjoyed the moment of silence. Then, absently, Cipher wondered aloud what planet they were on. It led into an easy conversation between the three, chattering as they took in the setting sun.  
  
Blackburn kept his place at Cipher’s side, staring out at the passing ships, a strange mixture of warmth and sadness coiling inside of him.

* * *

With only a day and a half, they failed to max the card Dell gave them, and before long were being ushered off the deck. Madens, mostly incapacitated throughout the trip, was still dealing with the hangover-induced headache from drinking so much; with his system, it took a while for alcohol to work its way out.  
  
Cipher, once on the pier, raised a hand to wave at Sim, having already "accidentally" bumped into Dell's cast as farewell before darting down the gangplank.  
  
Sim's wave back was cut short when they spotted the captain whimpering and hunched over as he waited for the pain of his disturbed injury to subside. They promptly tried to comfort him, distracted from Cipher’s farewell.  
  
"That was pretty fun!" Chessur gave one last look over the cruise ship once they all settled on the pier. "... I miss the first class beds already." She sighed, knowing the journey ahead would most likely hold some shoddy beds or none at all. Not to mention no more showers or baths, pools, fresh expensive food, washed clothing... She groaned.  
  
Blackburn was more focused on the crowd, wondering where the hell they would end up next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, we've reached the end of Arc 3! I miscalculated the number of chapters, but we'll be back with Arc 4 before long! 
> 
> The little snippet near the end, with the sunset, was [heavily inspired and based on a piece of fanart we received](http://rainboopz.tumblr.com/post/174048330423/%E3%81%A3%E3%82%9D%CF%89%E3%81%A3-hella-dope-peeps-who-belong-to-riplae) during Arc 3, by the darling Rainboopz over on Tumblr. She's been a huge inspiration to us, and we wanted that to reflect in the canon <3 Thank you, Rain. 
> 
> The next arc will see the introduction of a new antagonist, who has undergone some changes since her portrait was uploaded on our tumblr.
> 
> Coming up next is Arc 4-- The Things We Do: For Glory!


End file.
